Red Flowers
by darkmousey
Summary: IYxYYH and a few chapters with the Kenshin gang. Hey, everyone. It's too hard for me to do short summaries, so there's one big long one inside. It's a KuramaxKagome paring, with some Youko thrown in there too. DISCONTINUED
1. Default Chapter

AN: Hello everyone. I'm a new fanfiction writer, so please be nice when reviewing. I would, however, appreciate constructive criticism. Help, don't hate! Anywho, this is just an idea I've had for a while, but I'm only putting up a summary this time. If I have even one REVIEWer, I will write it, that's how desperate I am. Anywho, I'm sure ur tired of my babbling, so here's the summary!  
  
Red Flowers  
  
After returning to Kaede's village from shard hunting, Kagome and Inuyasha get into a fight about her leaving. While cooling off in her world, Kagome is transferred to a new school, where she meets a weird group of friends. They turn out to be spirit detectives who, shortly after meeting her and learning about her life in the feudal era, are assigned to help her collect shikon shards. Kikyou is in here, by the way. But where? What romance will bloom in the new group? Read and find out! ^-^  
  
This will be a crossover, in case you didn't notice. There will be IY, YYH, and Kenshin later on, but they won't be staying the whole time. A guest appearance, if you will.  
  
Pairings and comments:  
  
Kag/kur/yoko  
  
Yusuke/keiko  
  
Sango/Hiei (this won't be anything heavy. Maybe some kissing, etc. towards the end.)  
  
Kuwabara will always be with Yukina. No one else will ever like him that way, is my theory.  
  
Kikyo/(it's a surprise)  
  
Miroku/Megumi  
  
If you're wondering about Inuyasha, he's taken now by SilentDark.  
  
Sesshoumaru and Rin will have a father/daughter kind of relationship  
  
If there's anyone I forgot or a separate pairing I haven't mentioned, please say so in your REVIEW *winkwink* Just remember that I won't be pairing Naraku up with anyone. Also, I will at least consider any suggestions. Remember, if I get any nice REVIEWs (I accept helpful criticism as well), I will write, but probably only on the weekends, cuz I'm lazy and have school T-T.  
  
Ja Ne!  
  
The anonymous anime mouse 


	2. The things a girl's gotta do to get home

Hello again peoples! I forgot the disclaimer last time, so.  
  
Disclaimer: Me no own, you no sue!  
  
Oh, yeah, I've found the perfect pairing for kikyou (she doesn't deserve a capital letter) but I'm not gonna tell you. It'll be in the next chapter for sure. It is my theory she has to take someone to hell for everyone to be happy, and for this all (my story) to be right. Please read authors note on bottom.  
  
As for REVIEWers.CONGRATULATIONS KOUGAS-GIRL! You were my first REVIEWer. I will love you forever!  
  
So, without further ado.  
  
Chappy 1. The things a girl's gotta do to get home  
  
"words" 'thoughts' ************scene change ~~~~~~~~~~~~ time change  
  
"InuYasha, SIT!!! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU I HAVE TO GO BACK HOME! I HAVE A LIFE! AND I CAN'T STUDY FOR MY MATH TEST HERE WITH ALL THE DEMONS TRYING TO KILL ME FOR THE SHARDS! Do you understand, Inuyasha?" Kagome said the last part so sweetly everyone (Miroku, Sango, and Shippou) except Inuyasha (who was still teaching his friend, ground some new words) fainted anime style.  
  
"WENCH! WHAT'D YA DO THAT FOR!"  
  
"My name is Kagome! KA-GO-ME! Get it right for once! My name is not wench, bitch, girl, shard detector, or anything else you come up with!" By now, the young miko from the future had flames in her eyes. This was the 58th time they'd had this argument before. The others were just standing on the sidelines, a good distance away of course, eating some popcorn Kagome had given them a while back. "You'd think by now you'd be smart enough to know that,'' she said, sitting on the well, prepared to jump off.  
  
But Inu just had to go and open his big mouth, now, didn't he? "You're not going anywhere, stupid girl! We still have shards to collect, and then I can become a full demon. BUT I CAN'T COLLECT THE SHARDS WITHOUT MY BAKA WENCH OF A SHARD DETECTER! Kikyou would never leave during such an important time." He added as an afterthought.  
  
All any but the fighting couple could think was 'uh-oh. He's gonna get it.'  
  
Kagome spoke with deadly calm. "Inuyasha, I'm going home, so why don't you just go SIT and wait for me while I go and SIT with my family and then SIT and soak in my bathtub. And if you don't just SIT here and wait until I come back, meaning if you come get me, I will SIT you to the OTHER SIDE OF THE PLANET!" Without further ado, she jumped into the Bone-Eater's Well and was surrounded by a familiar blue light.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~With Kagome  
  
Kagome relaxed in the bath tub before dinner. She always felt so dirty in the past. She still couldn't understand why people didn't like to take a bath every day. Still, she could understand a little since even when they could find hot springs that still didn't feel as good as a modern-day bath.  
  
Her thoughts began to drift to a certain dog-eared hanyou. 'Argh. I can't believe he's so rude all the time. I know I'm not as good as kikyou was, but I'm trying. I mean, I just found out about all this three years ago (a/n: yes, she's 18 now) and I'm doing much better with my miko powers now. But I guess I just can't compare with his stupid corpse of a dead girlfriend. I wish I could meet some nice guy. Not a pushover like Hojo, but a nice guy that can hold his ground in a fight.'  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~In Sengoku Jidai  
  
The group watched as Kagome jumped to her time after sitting Inuyasha six feet under. Shippou (a/n: squeal at his kawaii-ness), while it was safe, went over to the hanyou and started kicking him and biting his ears. "You stupid inu! I can't believe you made Kagome leave like that! She always gets mad at you and then goes down the well, and then she doesn't come back for a long time." he began to cry.  
  
Sango, feeling pity toward the child kitsune who's mother figure just left, picked Shippou up and carried him to Kirara. The neko transformed and followed Sango's orders of "Take Shippou as far away from InuYasha as you can without it being a danger." They'd gotten into this habit about a year ago to keep Shippou alive.  
  
Miroku turned to InuYasha, who was still under the sit spell, saying, "It would be much less painful, my friend, if you'd just let her go home when she likes." Then he left quickly with Sango. Shortly after, the cry of "HENTAI!" and a crash could be heard, then silence.  
  
Inu got up a while later. He debated on whether to follow or not, but he still hurt from that last round of sits, so he left to go sulk somewhere in a tree.  
  
Little did anyone know, they had been watched.  
  
~*~*~*  
  
AN: Well, what does everyone think? I know it's a little slow but y'see, I have this problem.I can't write quick stories because I have to get character development going and all.So bear with me! If you don't like that, don't read my writing.  
  
Anywho, was I was saying up top, I really, really need to find a title for this. I don't want it to stay 'Need Title' forever.  
  
As always, all kinds of REVIEWs are welcome, even flames, as long as they help, so don't just go saying "I hate it!" Remember, if I don't have flames, I won't be able to roast my marshmallows, but I don't want them to burn! And if anyone wants me to add a glossary at any time, let me know.  
  
I think that's all for now.  
  
Ja Ne!  
  
The anonymous anime mouse 


	3. kikyou is where!

I'm back. AN at bottom.  
  
Disclaimer: Me no own, you no sue.  
  
Chappy 2. Kikyou.where?!  
  
"speaking" 'thinking' ******Scene change ~~~~~~~Time change  
  
Kikyou, the living bitch of a corpse, was walking along with her soul- stealing bug thingies (a/n: name, anyone?). She couldn't really remember a time when she wasn't depressed or not filled with hatred. Even when she and Inuyasha were together, she didn't really love him. She just wanted to turn him human so the shikon no tama would disappear and she could have a normal life.  
  
It was true, Inuyasha wasn't the kind of guy she wanted. He was rude, crude, and way to egotistical (full of himself). She would do anything to have a guy that would follow her every whim, even follow her into death. But she had no chances at that now, when she was a walking corpse.  
  
And that was the reason she tried to take Inuyasha to hell with her. After all, what better way to rid yourself of misery than to destroy it at the source? Though her reincarnation was posing quite a threat to her delicate plan.  
  
That was when she heard the loud yelling of the two her thoughts had been resting upon. Her bugs carried her the extra mile to the trees before the clearing with the old dry well in it, just in time to see Inuyasha get the beating of his lifetime and her reincarnation jump into the well. She had seen this several times now: they fight, she yells 'sit', and then jumps into the well, surely to her death, but it never came. Kikyou would have felt that.  
  
So this time, when her reincarnation's companions finally left, she decided to sate her curiosity. She walked over to the dry well and gazed into it. It was too dark to see anything, really, so she sent her luminescent bugs to shine a little light at the bottom. Still, there was nothing but youkai bones.  
  
'What was that blue light coming forth from the well?'  
  
So she decided to do the one thing that would help draw a conclusion: She ordered her bugs to take her down the well.  
  
When she touched the bottom she was engulfed in a soft blue light. When it disappeared, she could see nothing else except for the well she had just entered. Needless to say she was quite miffed. Then she looked up, expecting to see the sky, but saw only.a roof? Had she been knocked out and someone had built around the well? No, surely she would have woken up. Her bugs carried her out and she could now see that it would have taken far too long to build a wellhouse like this in such a short time. When she walked out of the building, the dead woman was completely baffled.  
  
This wasn't the clearing she had come from. It was now a shrine. To one side was a large home, a mansion in her opinion, where she could feel the rest of her soul and it's energy radiating from. On another side was a little shop. Behind her was the old wellhouse. She turned around to see what other surprises this place held and her gaze fell upon the Goshinboku tree. In her own time, you could see the shape of a person where the bark didn't grow. Now, there was just an oval-like shape in the tree that showed where Inuyasha had been imprisoned by her own arrow.  
  
She finally came to a conclusion. She wasn't in Kansas any more, so to speak.  
  
Then she heard the voice of a young boy calling the name of her reincarnation, and he seemed to be getting closer. "Kagome? Kagome, are you sure you should be out of bed in your condition? Well, I brought some incense sticks to help clear up your lungs, and- you're not Kagome!" He finally realized this when Kikyou turned around. After a moment of staring at the beautiful figure (*chokechoke*) before hime, he held out his hand politely. "Hello, my name is Hojo, who are you?"  
  
*With Kag*  
  
She sensed the walking corpse when she first came from the Bone-Eater's well. Kagome quickly washed the conditioner from her hair before drying off and dressing in record time. For once, she wasn't in her green sailor uniform. She was in some comfortable jeans and a forest green (a/n: sorry, I just like that shade. It would look good on her, I think) spaghetti strap tank top. She ran down the stairs when she heard Hojo's voice. 'The baka. He's gonna get himself killed. I may not really like him that much, but no one deserves to die because of that bitch.' She quickly grabbed her bow and arrows so she could protect her family and Hojo from the dead miko.  
  
She ran over to them, almost as fast as a youkai.  
  
*the corpse's POV*  
  
When my reincarnation arrived with lightning speed, the polite young boy with sandy brown hair, Hojo, turned his attention to her. I admit, I felt a little angry at her for diverting his kind, happy eyes to her.  
  
"Hello, Kagome, who is your friend here?" he asked.  
  
'Friend?' I wonder to myself. 'We try to kill each other at every attempt.'  
  
"Her name's Kikyou. She's my.er.cousin.yeah that's right! She's visiting for a short while." My reincarnation managed to stutter out.  
  
"Oh, that's wonderful!" he said. Hojo gave Kagome the incense sticks explaining why he brought them, and then turned back to me, pulling a bouquet from behind his back. "I hope you'll allow me to have the pleasure of showing a beautiful young lady such as yourself around town." His smile just about brought my dead heart back to life.  
  
I sensed my reincarnation begin to panic. "Hojo, I don't think that would-"  
  
"I would love you to show me your village," I responded.  
  
*End POV*  
  
She looked at Kagome, daring her to say otherwise. Finally, Kagome just said, "Kikyou, can I speak to you for a minute." She nodded and the two walked to the outside of the wellhouse. "What are you trying to pull?"  
  
"I have come to the conclusion that this is not my time, and I wish to know more about it." Suddenly, Kikyou went all nice and asked if Kagome would allow her to stay. Not feeling up to argue for once, Kagome consented, but told her she would have to get some different clothes.  
  
"Hey, Hojo, Kikyou'll be down in a minute, she just needs to change."  
  
Kikyou was surprised at how revealing the outfit was that her reincarnation had given her: jeans and a light blue t-shirt with dark blue letters that said 'sweet'. It fit around her curves perfectly, making her feel naked. Kagome accompanied her back downstairs and before letting her leave with Hojo said, "If you hurt anyone, I'll kill you."  
  
'Foolish girl,' she thought, 'I don't kill humans, just demons-and you.'  
  
*With Hojo*  
  
He felt a little guilty about dumping Kagome like that, but they weren't going out, and she was always too sick to, anyways. And her cousin, Kikyou, was so stunning.  
  
Kikyou came out the front door and began coming towards him. He offered his arm to her and they walked down the shrine steps together. Hojo was in complete bliss.  
  
*end*  
  
AN: Okay, that made me kinda sick writing that. I'm a Kikyou hater, btw, so it's kinda hard for me to write this, but I wanted everyone to be happy in this story, and I needed to get rid of Hojo. And I think this is the first time this pairing has ever been done, so I feel so proud of myself. If it has been done, then don't tell me, please. And sorry about some parts being so short, and kagome not arguing or anything, I know that's OOC, but you have to understand, my fingers are getting really tired right now.  
  
Anyways, after this chapter will be an author's note with all the things I want you to vote for in your REVIEWs, my dear REVIEWers, so PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE don't pass it up. Your opinions really count in this, otherwise you might hate me for what I write. Anywho, please read the note and vote(I rhymed!)  
  
Ja ne!  
  
The anonymous anime mouse 


	4. stalking the corpse

Disclamer: Me no own, you no sue!  
  
Chappy 3. stalking a clay pot and pushover  
  
"talking" 'thinking' *****scene change ~~~~~time change  
  
Now, of course, just because kikyou said she wouldn't cause anyone harm didn't mean Kagome Higurashi, who had been the subject of several of her assassination attempts, would actually believe her. Who would believe a walking corpse like her anyways?  
  
So when the couple left down the steep shrine steps, she came out from her hiding place by the door and followed them. This part actually wasn't very hard: She could feel the part of her soul that kikyou had stolen from her.  
  
The only problem Kagome had with following kikyou and Hojo was the fact that she couldn't hear what they were saying, and it bugged her like an itch she couldn't scratch, like a really annoying hyper person, like.well, you get the idea. True, it was easier to hide in the city than amongst the trees, because there were so many people to hide behind, but so many people made a lot of noise. SHE COULDN'T EAVESDROP! So it was like hell for her. That was the whole point in following someone. What's the point if you can't hear what they're saying?  
  
She was instantly reminded of how easy it was to hear her dog-eared hanyou friend and his ex talking like lovers. She could get so close, since Inuyasha couldn't concentrate on anyone or anything but his 'innocent and loveable kikyou' (*gag*), though she knew kikyou could feel her through their shared soul.  
  
'At least I'm finally over him.' She thought. After seeing them together so many times, looking like they were so in love, she just couldn't take it any more. Her love for Inuyasha decreased until it remained at a brother- sister level. She didn't regret it at all, either. She reminded Inuyasha too much of kikyou for him to ever really love her and not kikyou. Besides that, now she didn't have to worry about the whole different times thing. Unless she fell for another guy there. She could imagine falling for Inuyasha's wonderfully BEAUTIFUL (in a manly way) older half-brother Sesshoumaru if he weren't such a human-hater. But she had to say, she wished he had Inu's cute little fuzzy dog-ears, then he'd be perfect. But it wasn't like any of that would ever happen.  
  
Kagome sighed and took another sip out of her fruit smoothie and looked around. She was in a rather large café with a bunch of people sitting around, mostly teenagers and young couples. She looked around while waiting for people to stop blocking her view of kikyou and Hojo. She noticed particularly a group with four guys and two girls. (Guess who! ()  
  
The first guy had his hair slicked back with a lot of gel. He wore a green school uniform and his face gave off that 'I'm a punk don't mess with me' looks.  
  
The next guy was taller than the first. Short orange hair, bigger build than the other guy. He was in a blue uniform. Kagome couldn't really tell if he had any intelligence from his looks and stupid voice. He was just one of those guys you could tell wasn't the brightest crayon in the box just by looking at him.  
  
The next guy.oh, she could have fainted from his magnificence. If Sesshoumaru was beautiful for a youkai, then this guy was a god among ningen. From his gorgeous, long, red hair, to his emerald green eyes, and even his pinkish school outfit on his beautiful body was enough to make any girl a little woozy. Perhaps she had stared a little too long, he was starting to look her way.  
  
So she turned back to her smoothie and glanced at the last guy with sideways glances. He was shorter than the others with black hair, black clothes, and a white bandana tied around his forehead. And while the others were laughing at some joke the guy in green just made, most likely about the red-head since he looked rather embarrassed, she couldn't see any humor in his eyes, but was able to miraculously hear a quiet "Hn" in all the commotion. She sensed something from him and the red-head, but couldn't be too sure in this crowd, so she just let it drop.  
  
The last two were girls, but she couldn't see what they really looked like because their backs faced her. Both wore blue sailor uniforms. The one closest to the short guy had blue hair that was held up in a ponytail and the one by the first guy had brown. Other than that, she couldn't tell anything, but she found herself wondering why they were all wearing uniforms. 'Oh, yeah, I came back a day late. It's Monday. School must have just gotten out. That's why Hojo was still in his uniform.'  
  
Finally, she tore her gaze around the group of friends to resume her careful watch over kikyou. Only to find out that the couple sitting at their table wasn't them! She stood and searched frantically from her place. When she realized she couldn't sense the other fragment of her soul, she knew kikyou had convinced Hojo to take them away fast. Just to check she loosened her hold just a little on her miko powers; she hadn't wasted her shard-searching years sitting around on her butt all day; her powers had greatly improved. She still couldn't sense her soul. 'DAMN IT! She knows I can't sense her more than half a mile away because she has so little of my soul!' "Damn it." She cursed aloud. She quickly slammed a five on her table and rushed out of the café.  
  
*With the yyh gang*  
  
Everyone was gathered around a table at one of the best cafés in town to celebrate the completion of their 50th (successful) case. Later, they would go to Kuwabara's house to party.  
  
So, they were all sitting around having a good time, but during a small lapse in jokes, he noticed a girl not two tables away who looked like she was far away. Not literally, but in thought. She broke from her thoughts with a sigh and took a sip of the purplish-red drink and began to look around half-heartedly.  
  
Then her eyes rested first on Yusuke, then Kuwabara, and then finally on him, where her gaze stayed for quite a while until he was tempted to look up at her. When she noticed this, the raven-haired beauty blushed a pretty pink and looked away, but continued gazing at the Spirit Detectives through the corners of her eyes.  
  
"Hey, Kurama, looks like you have another one for your fan club," Yusuke kidded.  
  
"Yusuke!"  
  
"What, Keiko. Pretty much all the girls at school want to be his girlfriend."  
  
"Oh, look, Kurama's blushing!" said Boton in her somewhat accented voice. "Let's stop teasing him."  
  
Meanwhile, Kurama and Hiei watched the girl as she looked startled about something, jump up, and look frantically around. Everyone, except for Keiko, snapped to attention when they felt a sudden burst of something like spirit energy-only purer-that quickly receded.  
  
#Hey, Fox, did you feel that power?#  
  
#Yes. What was it?#  
  
#I'm not sure.#  
  
#Are you going to follow?#  
  
#Hn.# And, quicker than a wink, Hiei was gone, without a trace of ever having been there. (I no. Corny. But oh well.)  
  
"Hey, where'd the shrimp go?" said our favorite baka.  
  
"He went after that girl, baka."  
  
"What'd'ya call me Urameshi(sp?)?"  
  
"You heard me. BAKA." Yusuke gave a smug smile.  
  
"You little-"  
  
"Guys, guys! Please, stop fighting," said the peacemaker, Keiko.  
  
Kurama and Boton sweatdropped. "Kurama, you don't think she's a danger, do you?"  
  
"I'm not sure. Hiei might be able to tell us when he gets back. In the meantime, we should probably report this to Koenma. Whatever kind of energy she has, it isn't spirit energy."  
  
"Yes, I believe you're right. Let's go then."  
  
So the remaining part of the group followed Boton to an alley where she opened the portal to Reikai (spirit world), Kuwabara and Yusuke arguing all the way.  
  
***End Chappy***  
  
Wow, that was my longest chappy yet. What do you guys think? Finally got the yyh group in here! Yay! And how did everyone like my Kurama description? Yes, he is a god in my book. Just wait till I get to Youko.hope I didn't spoil anything there.  
  
Anywho, I know I said I'd get the results of your voting on Friday, but I forgot I have this girl scout thing I have to do, so I'll have chappy 6 up on Sunday, when I get back. Sry. Anywho, I might update one more time during the week if I don't get too much homework.  
  
Here's how the title stuff is going. I took some stuff off that I made up cuz I wanted to narrow stuff down to the top 3.  
  
Stupid Inuyasha: *  
  
A Girl's Job: *  
  
Red Flowers:  
  
I also had a good idea(in my opinion) as to what to do for pairings. This is a list of the final pairings.  
  
Kur/youko/kag  
  
Kikyou/hojo  
  
Yus/kei  
  
Kuw/yuk  
  
San/Hiei  
  
Mir/Megumi(kenshin)  
  
Kao/ken(kenshin)  
  
Notice anything missing. Yes, poor Inuyasha! Who should he be with? Should he have someone at all? REVIEW and give your opinion, as always. I'm not rushing or anything cuz it's not too imperative right now.  
  
About Miroku, Sango, and Hiei: Okay, I was really confused about what to do with these three in the beginning, but since I think Sango isn't the kind of girl who would fall in love with someone who gropes her all the time (not that I'm against this pairing!) and she and Hiei have some things in common (both lost family, have 1 member that doesn't really know them) I think they make a cute couple. And besides, I would have done a separate one for San/Mir, but I had an awesome (may be exaggeration) idea about Miroku and Megumi (the doctor lady from Kenshin.)  
  
NOTES TO REVIEWERS:  
  
Xianghua: I bet you're happy about this pairing. You're welcome ^_^  
  
SerinintyRules: Thank you so much for voting. You were my first, and I really needed help to clear up my thoughts. I'm sorry about it not being San/Mir, but I hope you can understand from my above note. And thanx for the site, too, it was really helpful. I even bookmarked it^_^.  
  
Kurama's gf the punk kagome: thanx so much for the title suggestion. I liked it. Now if my REVIEWers would just vote.  
  
Hiei is mine forever: thanx for the compliment, it means a lot to a beginning writer such as myself. AND IT INSPIRES ME TO WRITE CHAPPYS FASTER (*HINTHINT*) ^_^. Next time you review, could you give me some good kkur/youko/kag fics, or e-mail them to me. That's my favorite pairing.  
  
AND FOR EVERYONE ELSE THAT HAS REVIEWED THANX SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT. YOU'RE ALL SO WONDERFUL TO ME. NOW ONEGAI GO AND VOTE FOR THE TITLE.  
  
Ja Ne!  
  
The anonymous anime mouse 


	5. A new school

Disclaimer: Me no own, you no sue.  
  
Chappy 5. A new school  
  
"Talk" 'thoughts' #telepathy# *******Scene change ~~~~~~~Time change  
  
*******Reikai (Spirit world)  
  
"So you're saying that this girl, whoever she is, is emitting a high spirit energy, but it is much more pure than normal spirit energy. And that she was supposedly following someone, you don't know who, and you don't know why." Said the toddler ruler of Reikai.  
  
"Bingo!"  
  
"Yes, that is right," said Kurama in his calm, sexy voice.  
  
"Well, in that case, it's a really good thing I have a memory projector (a/n: I made it up. Takes a person's memory and projects onto Koenma's big screen in his office) or it could take weeks to find her, since she can conceal her energy, it seems." An image of the raven-haired, brown eyed beauty from the restaurant appeared on the screen. "That's her?" he asked in awe. They all nodded.  
  
"So toddler, you're telling us that, with all your knowledge," Yusuke said mockingly, "That you don't know anything about this girl? Even Hiei seemed worried."  
  
"Actually, I just wanted to get away from all the baka ningens." Hiei into the light from the shadows he'd appeared in seconds beforehand.  
  
Kuwabara and Yusuke were about to make another outburst, but Kurama interrupted them. "Hiei, did you find out anything about the girl?"  
  
"I was able to track her easily with my jagan. Once she was far enough away from the restaurant, she released her powers, and must have sensed me somehow." Although he would never admit it, the koorime was rather irked that a mere ningen had sensed him. "She was looking for someone, or something. I followed her to a shrine, most likely her home, when she gave up."  
  
"George!" yelled Koenma. The blue ogre came running in. "Yes, Koenma, sir?" "Go find as much information about this girl and the family that lives at this address." He had written down the address Hiei told them the girl went to. The blue ogre set to work quickly. "I'll contact you four when we find any information about the girl."  
  
*****around Yusuke's school  
  
'Well, it finally happened,' thought Kagome as she shuffled her feet down the sidewalk to school. Not her regular school, a new one. She had been absent too many times in the past three years at her old school, so she had to complete her entire senior year in a completely alien school. 'At least I don't have to change in the middle of the year. And it wasn't because of my grades, either.' She was rather proud of the fact that she spent so much time in the past fighting demons to collect shikon no kakera and still managed to have an 80 or above average in all her classes.  
  
"Still, they just had to move me in my senior year," she said angrily aloud.  
  
She didn't know anyone from this side of town, and worse, people kept staring and pointing at her. They must've all known she was new. And soon enough she would once again be know all over this school as 'the sick girl.' Kagome sighed and walked into the principles office.  
  
"Ah, hello, young lady! You must be Higurashi Kagome, am I correct?"  
  
"Yes, I am." She was quite pleased with the large man's kind and enthusiastic nature.  
  
"Welcome to Sarayasaki (sp?) High School*. My name is Mr. Takenaka. And this is Keiko Yukimura." He stepped aside, revealing a brown-haired girl in the blue skirt and sailor suit uniform of the school. She came to about Kagome's chin. "Well, I'll be going now. I know you're in capable hands with Keiko."  
  
"Have a nice day, Mr. Takenaka," both girls chorused.  
  
Keiko turned to Kagome with a bright smile and Kagome immediately knew she would like this girl. "If you give me your schedule, I can show you where your classes are while we tour the school." Kag nodded and followed the other girl out of the office. Keiko looked at Kagome's schedule, noticing she had all her classes with at least one of the Spirit Detective team. She could introduce them at lunch since that how long tours always lasted. "Well, let's get started, shall we?"  
  
*******Skipping over tour to lunch  
  
Kagome and Keiko merrily made their way to where Keiko sat with her friends every day. In the short morning they had spent together, they were already chatting like old friends. But even hearing how strange her friends were didn't prepare Kag for the shock.  
  
What was so shocking? Why isn't the lovely authoress writing about Kikyou and Hojo? Did they go to hell already? Why am I asking these questions? Find out next time.maybe.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
AN: I'm sorry about this chappy being so short, but my brain is fried right now, I couldn't get to sleep last night, and I still have to finish an English report=_=*sigh*. I'll work on making the next one better, I promise.  
  
*Yes I know their school is a junior high, but everyone in the yyh gang looks old enough to be a high schooler, and Kagome's a senior now, soooo.^- ^  
  
Voting updates:  
  
Titles:  
  
Crossing over: *  
  
Red Flowers: **  
  
A girl's job: *  
  
There's still time to vote! Please decide what you want before Sunday night (which is when I will be frantically trying to finish the chappy with enough time to spare for homework).  
  
REVIEWer Responses:  
  
SerinityRules: Thanx so much for caring about my story enough to REVIEW. I changed your title vote for you. Oh, yeah, Kenshin and Kaoru will be together when they come in. I couldn't imagine it any other way.  
  
Hiei: The pairings r basically decided right now, I think, except for Inu, but I'm thinking about that right now. If u have any suggestions, please send them in. About kikyou, I am a kikyou hater. The whole reason I wrote this story though was because I wanted her and Hojo to be together, just to see what would happen. They deserve each other, always getting in the way of Inu and Kag. Anywho. Everything began around that, so that's what I'm sticking with. Sorry if u had your hear set on the Kur/kik pairing.  
  
I think that's all for now.  
  
Ja Ne!  
  
The anonymous anime mouse 


	6. A new school pt 2

Hello, everyone!  
  
Sorry I was behind my promised deadline by, like, FOUR DAYS but the thing is, I know what I want to write, just not how to write it. I am writing this as I go, after all. And my teachers are giving me way too much homework.  
  
THE TITLE IS NOW 'RED FLOWERS' in case no one noticed. At first it was a tie between the two, but then I did the 'eeny, meeny, miny, mo' thing, and it landed on red flowers, soooo  
  
I'm so happy my story is being REVIEWed. Anywho, REVIEWer responses are at the bottom.  
  
Disclaimer: Me no own, you no sue.  
  
Chappy 6: A new school pt. 2  
  
"talking" 'thinking' ****scene change ~~~~time change (a/n most of the time)  
  
Kagome and Keiko merrily made their way to where Keiko sat with her friends every day. In the short morning they had spent together, they were already chatting like old friends. But even hearing how strange her friends were didn't prepare Kag for the shock.  
  
Of course, she should have realized Keiko was one of the girls from her hair style and uniform, but everyone has their blonde moments. (sorry to all blonds. I'm one too, though! ^_^).  
  
There, right in front of her, were the guys from yesterday. Three of them anyways. She really wished it was the tall orange haired guy that was missing and not the shorter guy. This one didn't look like he could hold an intelligent conversation for even a second. But the handsome red-head more than made up with his stupidity with his stunning looks.  
  
She noticed she was staring, yet again, when Keiko interrupted. "Kagome, I'd like you to meet my friends. This is Yusuke." She pointed to the guy with gelled hair and a green uniform. "This is Kuwabara." She pointed to the idiot. "This is Shuiichi." Kagome took special note of him. "And this is Boton." The girl with blue hair and eyes full of happiness smiled and waved at Kagome. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet Higurashi, Kagome."  
  
While everyone said a polite 'hello' or 'yo' everyone's favorite baka exclaimed, "Hey, you're the girl from the café!"  
  
Yusuke hit him over the head. "Duh, Kuwabara. You just figured that out?"  
  
"You tryin' t'start somethin', Urameshi?!"  
  
During this, the rest of the group had opened a space for Kagome, so she sat between Boton and Shuiichi. By this time, the fight between the two rivals had gotten ugly, even uglier than Kuwabara (couldn't resist^_^;) "Hey, shouldn't we break up the fight?"  
  
"No, it should all be over with soon enough," exclaimed the ever-happy Boton. Coincidently, just as she said this, Yusuke knocked Kuwabara out to the point where a vulture was ten times more beautiful than the baka.  
  
"So this happens all the time?"  
  
"Ehehe." Sweatdrops all around.  
  
(a/n: okay, the rest isn't interesting enough, so I'm not gonna waste my time typing it. If you must know, it goes something like this: kag talks bout herself and non-sengoku jidai life, they go to class.)  
  
******~~~End of school  
  
"So I guess we'll see you tomorrow, then, Kagome?" asked Keiko. Kagome lived in the opposite direction of the majority of the group.  
  
"Yeah, see you guys around." The rest of the group said their goodbyes and left.  
  
Kagome sighed. 'Well, my first day of school went better than I hoped.' She soon arrived at the bottom of the steep steps to her family's shrine. Above her, she heard voices: Two that never seemed to be apart. Arriving at the summit of the steps, she spotted Kikyou and Hojo. Although she still didn't trust kikyou not to try to harm her, Kagome had, over the years, built up a good sixth sense of who and who not to trust, and somehow she believed she wouldn't cause others harm. Besides, Kag had a feeling her incarnation had certain feelings for a certain pushover.  
  
If all else failed, Kag needed only to remind herself of one thing: while kikyou was here, she couldn't drag Inuyasha to hell with her. Of course, it came with a sacrifice from Kagome. To keep kikyou from taking souls, Kag had to give her some of her own, so that kikyou had a third of it. A part of her wondered why she didn't try to kill kikyou. Then their problems would be over. But, in less than a week, kikyou was beginning to change, become a better person, become happier. And Kagome couldn't take away anyone's happiness (except people she really didn't like, such as Naraku). Besides, Hojo was head over heals, and Kagome wanted him off her back.  
  
So she put up with the walking corpse. Speaking of corpses, she barely spared her reincarnation a glance as she walked into the house. "Hey, mom!"  
  
"Oh, Kagome, you're back! I'm in the kitchen. How was school?" Kagome made her way into the kitchen where her mom was putting on water for tea.  
  
"It was alright, I guess. I'm going to Grandma's place now, though."  
  
"Okay, just be back by dinner."  
  
"I will."  
  
CH. END  
  
Sorry it's short, but my brain's fried: a result of too much homework! Tell me in your REVIEWs if I said, spelled, etc. anything wrong. I'm too lazy to check over this right now. ^_^;  
  
WHEN CERTAIN CHARACTERS/GROUPS ARE COMING INTO PLOT LINE:  
  
Okay, a lot of you are wondering when kenshin and friends is going to come into the plot line. As I've said before, I have to have a lot of character development in my stories (so don't expect really any action at the moment), so since yyh just came in and all, kenshin probably won't be there until around chappy 15, I'm guessing.  
  
Kag's going into the past in the chappy after the next chappy (I think), so that's when we get to see the relationships there.  
  
Kuro honoo: That's actually what I was gonna have happen before(have inu look for kag to apologize or something), but then, it kinda came in a dream a pretty funny way to get meg and mir together. I might use that for future stories though.  
  
Xianghua: you're very welcome. I thought you'd like the san/hiei thing. Sango's coming in next chappy.  
  
Kawaiikitsunes: thanx for the vote!  
  
SilentDark: I'm so happy I'm the first! Yay. I win.one imaginary cookie^_^; Y'know, we really think the same with the hojo/kik thing. They're the ones messing with every1's love life, get rid of them. I was also thinking about putting inu and boton together, but then, inu shouldn't date dead people. No one should date dead people. So I'll probably have to make up some hanyou. Any suggestions?  
  
Shinigami Clara: If you were talking about the cliffy, sorry but it wasn't that bad anyways. If you were talking about me not updating for, like, a week, then let me just say "I HATE MY TEACHERS!" *deep breaths* CONGRATULATIONS! You were my first flame. Kinda. You win a year's supply of imaginary cookies, any kind you like. Yum! ^___^  
  
Fawn the panther: just a little too late to vote on pairings, except for inu. Oh yeah, I read your profile (I do things like this a lot when I'm bored) and it's Rurouni Kenshin and YuYu Hakusho. 


	7. Visiting Grandma

Disclaimer: Me no own, you no sue.  
  
Chappy 7: Visiting Grandma  
  
Almost as soon as they were out of the crowds of students rushing to get away from the school, the spirit detectives were confronted with Koenma's giant toddler head in the sky. "Botan, open a portal to Reikai right away. We have some information on that girl."  
  
She did as instructed (in an abandoned alleyway, of course) and soon everyone was in Koenma's spacious office. "Okay, now, about this girl."  
  
"Her name is Kagome Higurashi," Yusuke interrupted. "She lives in a shrine with her mom, grampa, and brother. She was transferred to our school because she's sick all the time with some kind of deadly diseases."  
  
"Actually, Yusuke, you were right about everything but the sick part. Kagome has never been sick a day in her life with anything but a cold. By doing some very thorough research, we have discovered that whenever she is reported sick, her spirit energy completely dissipates, and so does her life energy. In other words, she disappears. It's strange because she has such a large amount of energy, it's hard not to notice her, but she has supposedly learned how to mask that energy."  
  
"From what I could gather, she always has some energy released at all times," said Kurama.  
  
"Why do you say that? I didn't sense anything," said Botan.  
  
"It was at lunch today. While she sat by me, I felt a small sting, like a warning. Perhaps she sensed I was youkai if no one else felt it. Or perhaps her energy acts of her own accord, and she doesn't know a thing about youkai or otherwise."  
  
"That's something to think about," Koenma said seriously; then, cheering up 110%, "Why don't you guys go visit Genkai. She might know something!"  
  
And so Botan opened a portal which she, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama, Kiei, and Keiko (she knows about Reikai and everything that goes with it) stepped through.  
  
******Genkai's temple  
  
"Botan, why couldn't you open a portal where we don't have to walk up millions of steps?"  
  
"Stop complaining Yusuke. Genkai has spiritual defenses all over her temple. Who knows what would happen if I tried to open a portal up there. Besides, there's nothing bad about getting a little exercise."  
  
"My beautiful Yukina, I, your love, the Great Kuwabara, am coming!" said the 'Great' (cough*baka!*cough) Kuwabara as he charged up the steps, full of energy. Sweatdrops all around, except for Hiei, who narrowed his eyes and thought of painful ways to kill the baka if he got too close to his sister.  
  
Once everyone just about died on the steps, they reached the top, where Kuwabara was kneeling before Yukina, holding her hands and declaring his undying love to the unfortunate ice apparition. He was saved from being killed by Hiei's sword when Genkai came out to greet her visitors.  
  
"Hey, grandma, long time no see." Said Yusuke.  
  
Almost as fast as Hiei Genkai ran over to Yusuke, hit him upside the head, and was back at her starting position. "What do you and your friends want dimwit?"  
  
Kurama, the only one who would speak civilly, answered. "There is a girl with high spirit energy we were hoping you might know about."  
  
"I may. Do you know her name?"  
  
"Yes, it's-"  
  
"Grandma! The tea is ready." Called a voice from Genkai's kitchen.  
  
"I'll be there in a moment Kagome. We have guests."  
  
'Kagome?!' was what everyone but Genkai was thinking.  
  
"Hey, why does she get to call you grandma and you be okay with it when you hit me every time?" Yusuke asked as Genkai led them all inside. Kagome came out with a tray of tea for everyone.  
  
"Maybe it's because I'm her granddaughter."  
  
"What?!"  
  
Genkai nodded once. "It's true. We're related through her father."  
  
Talk went on for a while when Kagome suddenly looked at her watch and gasped. "I'm late! Ohnoohnoohno! He's gonna kill me this time for sure! Bye, Grandma Genkai, thanks for the advice. And it was nice seeing you guys again, too." She ran out, but not before giving her grandma a look that said 'don't tell'. A split second later, the look was gone and she was bounding out the door, making the spirit detectives wonder where she learned to run so fast. (comes from being chased all the time^_^) Obviously thinking no one could hear her once she was at the steps, she said, "Inuyasha has probably already come through the well already! I've got to hurry!"  
  
The two youkai looked at each other. Inuyasha (Dog Demon)? And what was so special about a well?  
  
A/N: okay, just a quick note. I know I said in the last chapter that kag would be going to the feudal era, but that was because at first these chappies were going to be together, but I just ended up really behind and just needed to post a quick chappy. So she'll be going back next time, I promise. I hope to have it out by Sunday. And if something doesn't sound right in this one, that's because I didn't check it over.  
  
REVIEWer Responses:  
  
Shinigami Clara: Sorry, I used the wrong word. You were the first person to give me a death threat. You may keep your year's supply of imaginary cookies. ^_^  
  
Kuro honoo: I'm thinking about an inu/botan thing, too, if I can't figure something else out because his ears are too cute for someone not to like them. SilentDark wants to be put in that role so we'll see how that goes. Thanx for the candy. Happy belated Halloween!  
  
Xianghua: Thanx for the compliment! You're the one who really got me started on this chappy, cuz I'm a lethargic procrastinator (a.k.a. lazy bum). Love and Peace! ^_^!  
  
SilentDark: I'd love to put you in my story. But instead of REVIEWing, please send me an email so nothing will be spoiled if someone reads the REVIEW. If your email isn't working, then ignore what I just said. Anywho, please send the following info and more if you want: what you would like to be called; weapons, attacks, etc.; description, both physical and personality; any certain clothes you would like, or I could make something up. I think that's it; just send more if I forgot anything. I already have a way for you to come into the story. Oh yeah, if you like, I could tell you how to post on ff.net (if you use Word). 


	8. past situations

Disclaimer: Me no own, you no sue  
  
Just a quick note: IF ANYONE KNOWS OF ANY GOOD CROSSOVERS, PLEASE TELL ME!! Thank you  
  
Chappy 8: Past Situations  
  
Sure enough, when Kagome finally reached her home, Inuyasha was waiting there, and her mother and Souta were trying to persuade him to not go out looking for her. Who knew what kind of havoc that kind of thing could bring?  
  
"Inuyasha, will you, umm, play more video games with me?" Souta was running out of options. Since Inuyasha had come here about two hours ago, they had played almost every single video game he owned.  
  
"And I could certainly use some more help around the house," Mrs. Higurashi piped in. Truth be told, the shrine was cleaner than it had been in years. The only thing that could be done now was repaint everything, and she didn't want to do that yet. Miraculously enough, with them both going all around the place cleaning, Inuyasha hadn't caught kikyou's scent. Or maybe he did and just didn't feel like saying anything.  
  
"NO! I'm going to find -Kagome! You're late, wench! TWO HOURS LATE! We have jewel shards to collect!"  
  
Kagome sighed. She thought she might be able to make it to the door if she was quiet, but she had no such luck. "Sit, boy." Over the years, Kagome had learned not to be offended by Inuyasha's harsh use of speech. When he yelled to his friends, it often meant he cared. Just the fact that he cared enough to want to go looking for her made her feel flattered. Long ago, Kagome might have thought that it was only because she was the 'shard detector', but now she knew it was because she was his friend, almost like a sister since neither could really express their feelings. 'I didn't want him to see me and think of kikyou. It's better this way.' "I know I'm late Inuyasha, and I'm sorry, but I just lost track of time," she said exasperatedly. "Give me five minutes to gather my things and then I'll come with you."  
  
Inuyasha just "Feh"ed and disappeared into the trees. But when Kagome got to her room, she saw him there, right outside the window, watching her carefully to make sure she didn't spend any more time than necessary. She didn't give him the courtesy of opening the window.  
  
When all was gathered into her giant yellow bag, Kagome walked out to the wellhouse where Inuyasha was waiting. He hefted her bag up and she climbed onto his back with ease. What else could you expect? She'd been doing it for years; it was the most natural thing for either of them to do. He jumped into the seemingly endless well and they were surrounded by a swirl of blue and purple lights.  
  
~~~~~~Sengoku Jidai  
  
When the two reached the other side of the well, they were greeted by a loud noise that sounded like flesh against flesh, accompanied by, "HENTAI!!! TOUCHING MY CHEST DOES NOT GIVE ME COMFORT!!!" Kag and Inu sweatdropped before Inuyasha jumped out of the well and Kagome gracefully returned her feet to the grassy ground.  
  
A ball of fluff immediately jumped into her awaiting arms. "Kagome! I'm so happy you're here. ItwasreallyboringcuztherewasnothingtodoexcepthelpkaedegatherherbsandInuyasha wasbeingreallymeantomeandhekepthittingmeontheheadandtoldmetogogetlostinthefo restandandand"  
  
"Shh. It's okay Shippou. I'm here now. Let's go back to Kaede's place and we can go off to collect more shards tomorrow. I'm really tired right now." Kagome started to walk in the direction of the hut and Inuyasha sighed in relief. "And Inuyasha, how many times do I have to tell you not to hurt Shippou?! SITSITSIT!!!"  
  
So now, both Miroku and Inuyasha were left in the clearing with the Bone- eater's Well. One was knocked out and the other ticked as hell.  
  
*****Kaede's hut  
  
As usual, Kaede had been glad to see Kagome safe and well, so on and so forth, but she couldn't stay long because she'd been called to a neighboring village to be a midwife for the headman's wife. So she left shortly after Kagome's arrival.  
  
"Kagome, I'm so happy you're back." Sango said. "Miroku won't stop groping me. I'm getting really sick of it."  
  
"Well, you know, it's kind of a compliment with Miroku."  
  
"In that case, he's been complementing every single pretty woman he's seen in this half of his life," Sango replied venomously.  
  
Kagome's eyes knitted together in concern. "Sango, what's wrong? I thought you liked Miroku. You told me yourself you had some romantic feelings for him."  
  
Sango averted her eyes to look out the window of the hut. "I know, but, I just can't handle him being so indecisive. I don't want to 'be' with him just because I am the first to agree to his question (you all know which one I'm talking about). I don't want to be in an intimate situation with Miroku just to have him run off to the next pretty face." She sighed. "I don't know how I feel about him now."  
  
Kagome nodded in understanding. She used to feel the same way with Inuyasha and kikyou. Now that she had gotten over the heartbreak, that all hurt a lot less. She did still feel jealous when she thought of how Inuyasha always went after kikyou, but it was more in a protective sister kind of way, not possessive girlfriend. Besides, going back to Sango, she had lost everyone in her family to Naraku. Let's face it, Kohaku wasn't going to come back: the jewel fragment was the only thing keeping him alive now.  
  
Kagome shook her head to clear it of all the depressing thoughts. Putting her happy face back on, "Let's get to bed. We have a week of shard hunting ahead of us."  
  
AN: I meant to update a little sooner, but my sister wouldn't get off the computer and my laptop doesn't have internet access or my fics, sooo. Anywho, I hope this was longer than last time. Actually (now that I've checked) this one is four lines longer. Yay! *REVIEWers sweatdrop in background* Anywho, it's past 11 right now, so I'll just type up these REVIEWer responses then I can do some reading. Anywho, I hope this satisfied everyone for sengoku jidai relationships. That was kinda the point in writing this chappy. I think. Once again, I wrote this in a rush. Sorry if anything's weird. Well, yyh in the next chappy. ^_^  
  
REVIEWer Responses:  
  
Kagome11492: Wow, I'm so flattered. You are now, like, one of my favorite REVIEWers. You get to have the ultimate prize. *Lets Kagome11492 pet Youko's kawaii kitsune ears* *Pries her off. "okay, that's enough. Don't forget to REVIEW, everyone!"*  
  
SerinityRules: It isn't a problem with your computer, it's the site. Usually when that happens to me, which is rarely, going to another site or closing internet explorer then coming back usually works. Thanx for trying.  
  
SilentDark: firstly, I'd just like to ask you to send me the info I typed up in your response in the last chappy. I need that in the next two weeks, but the sooner the better.  
  
Okay, you were asking how to post. This is how to do it using Microsoft word: 1. Type a chappy. Go to 'document manager' Where it says Label, put in the chapter title. Then choose either story format or poem format (I personally don't know the difference, so I just use story format) Then, where it says 'file' click browse, find the document you just typed, and you can either click it and hit open or doubleclick. Click upload document. Click 'click to continue' when the almost blank screen comes up (I think that's what it says) At the top, it will have the chapter name and whatnot; it's good to click 'preview' just to see it'll look alright once it's out. 2. Go to 'Create Story' after logging in. At the bottom where it says 'category' choose a category. From there it'll take you to a sub category, and so on. Basically, it's getting summary information. When you're done with that click 'create story' 3. Go to 'edit story/add chapters' this is where you can fix any info and add chapters to your fic. It's pretty self explanatory from here, just type in chapter title and select the document you just uploaded. A quick tip tho: if you ever replace a chappy, check the chapter numbers, just to make sure nothing's screwed up. It's happened to me already. Umm..that should be it.  
  
ByeBye, everyone.  
  
Ja Ne!  
  
The anonymous anime mouse^-^ 


	9. talk between youkai

Disclaimer: Me no own, you no sue.  
  
Well, everybody, I'm back. Did ya guys miss me?  
  
Chappy 9: Talk between demons  
  
The spirit detectives didn't stay at Genkai's place too long after Kagome's departure. They knew the old woman was keeping something from them, but she was very evasive, answering their questions so that Kagome sounded like a normal-perhaps even boring-high school girl. But that couldn't be true. All of them had felt her energy before (at the café place if no one remembers, or if I forgot to put it). Yet she still refused to answer straightforward, and not even Hiei with his jagan eye could enter her mind; the barriers protecting it were too strong.  
  
In the end, they all left with a few words of goodbye, and Kuwabara with hearts in his eyes, promising his 'true love, Yukina' that 'her knight in shining armor would return to her soon.' It took all of Hiei's self-control to not rip him apart painfully; piece by piece and let ravenous wolf demons devour his flesh. Not too surprisingly, this almost brought a smile to his face, just like all the other times he thought up new ways to torment Kuwabara for being within shouting distance of his little sister. Although, he didn't plan this one out as well, or as gruesomely, as he would have liked. He was distracted by what Kagome had muttered after reaching the outdoors.  
  
"So what should we do now, guys?" asked everyone's favorite baka as the spirit detectives made their way down the sidewalk.  
  
"The old hag isn't going to tell us anything, so there isn't that much to do."  
  
"Perhaps we should all go home and get a restful night's sleep," suggested Kurama. "Things may be clearer in the morning. Besides, it's a school night."  
  
"School shmool," Yusuke muttered under his breath. "Who needs it? Well, if that's the case, here's my stop." Yusuke opened the door to his home and immediately smelled the alcohol in the air and his mom in front of the TV. He sighed and turned back to wave his friends goodbye.  
  
A verbal fight between Hiei and Kuwabara later (Hiei won of course), Kuwabara left them for his house, with Shizuru pulling him by the ear all the way for being late.  
  
This left the two demons to talk about this Kagome girl privately; neither felt like involving the two ningens right away, especially not the baka. By silent agreement they headed to the park to laze about in some trees, where their conversation wouldn't be overheard. Besides that, they both just liked trees; that was where Youko's powers lay and Hiei, well, let's just say he liked trees for the heck of it.  
  
"Tell me, Hiei. When you were following Kagome to her home the first day we encountered her, do you remember any strange energies coming from her home? Perhaps that well she was talking about?"  
  
"Hn. What I'm more concerned about, fox, is why she's going around with someone whose name means (female) dog demon."  
  
"Yes, I suppose you're quite right about that. Not too many people named Inuyasha are around these days, eh?" On the branches of their respective trees they stood in silence for a few moments longer. "This is quite a puzzle we have here, isn't it Hiei? A girl, whom we come across while she's apparently following someone, shows an unlimited amount of power one second, masks it the next, but somehow hasn't been able to sense us, or at least I don't think so. She's Genkai's granddaughter, and has just been transferred to our school, not because of grades, but because of absences; apparently she was known as the 'Sick Girl' from her other school, from what I picked up from Keiko. Then of course is this Inuyasha character and the well with a shrine built around it. We have our work cut out for us."  
  
They stood there for a while longer, neither saying a word. Companionable silence. But human bodies must rest sooner or later, to Youko's dismay, so Kurama bid Hiei farewell before leaping from branch to branch back to his own home. Hiei returned to Genkai's temple to watch over his little sister while she slept. He was determined for her to be safe, to have the peaceful life that he never could claim for his own.  
  
************* AN: hi minna! Well, I'm finally back. I hope this lived up to you guys' expectations. Don't worry about this chappy being short, my next chappy is, like, 3 ½ pages long, and I'll post it Friday, I think.  
  
Kagome11492: I hope u got my email. If not, I can send another one.  
  
Everyone else, thanx for understanding. I hate the kind of writer that always leaves A/N and such, but now I'm turning into one. T-T 


	10. the cat's out of the bag, er, well

Disclaimer: Me no own, you no sue.  
  
Wow. Everyone wanted me to update soon, and since I've been having such a good day, and more REVIEWs will brighten up my day tomorrow, I'm posting this chappy. Well, enough with my babbling. On to the story!^_^  
  
Chappy 10: The cat's out of the bag, er, well  
  
/Youko/ ~Kurama~ ~~~~~~~~~time change  
  
As could be expected on any normal school day, Kagome wasn't there and Yusuke was being forced to go by Keiko. Throughout the day, the spirit detectives and their friends couldn't help but wonder where Kagome could be. Surely she couldn't have the flu for the second time this month. And the Itchymonkeyitis thing her grandpa went on about to everyone who asked about her was just ridiculous. Most people believed he should be sent to a mental hospital. Some (Hojo, etc.) actually believed in these mysterious diseases.  
  
Kurama and Hiei (well, actually just Kurama) had told Yusuke and Kuwabara the well, but Koenma had them all chasing after demons who escaped from Makai every day, so there was no time. To go halfway across town just to see a well, which could be a perfectly ordinary well, was just stupid to the majority of the spirit detectives.  
  
~~~~~~~~~Saturday morning, around 11  
  
As usual, the spirit detectives were out walking in the city with Keiko, Botan, and Shizuru, with the new addition of Yukina. Shizuru vigilantly watched over Kuwabara to make sure he didn't make an even bigger baka of himself than before since Yukina was accompanying them. After all, the only thing worse than a baka is a baka that's in love with a beautiful ice apparition. Hiei followed the group in the trees so he could kill the baka if he got too close to his sister. Besides, he preferred not to associate with ningens too much.  
  
Although the others were enjoying themselves, Kurama was lost in deep thought. No matter how hard he tried, his thoughts kept straying back to Kagome. It didn't help that Youko was interested in the mysteries surrounding the schoolgirl.  
  
~So do you know anything about Kagome?~  
  
/No, but she has an air of power surrounding her. Didn't you feel it? It's very enticing, as well as her scent. Sakura blossoms and rain. She's beautiful, for a ningen. Perhaps, if we try, she allow us to help her lose her/  
  
~Don't you dare finish that sentence, Youko.~  
  
He snickered and smirked. /Very well. In any case, I feel that there is a key that will unlock the door to her secrets. If that key could be found, she would have no choice./ Silence took over the conversation, when Kurama thought over whether it was healthy to be talking to yourself so much, even if it was to his alter ego. /Something is coming./  
  
~What do you mean?~  
  
/ I feel something with a black heart coming from the direction of Kagome's house./  
  
During this conversation, Kurama had stopped walking. The others looked back at him curiously. "Hey Kurama! What's the holdup?"  
  
He ignored Yusuke's voice and ran with youkai speed in the opposite direction, to Kagome's house. Behind, he could sense the others chasing after him.  
  
#Fox. What's going on?#  
  
For once, Youko answered, to Hiei's surprise, though he didn't let it show. #Can't you feel it, koorime (a/n: that's fire demon, right?)? There is a faint evil aura coming from Kagome's family shrine.#  
  
Hiei concentrated a little harder and realized it was there, an evil aura. If the fox hadn't told him, he wouldn't have sensed it, because it was like it was coming, not really there. (hope u understand what I mean)  
  
~~~~~~Sengoku Jidai  
  
"Inuyasha, watch out!" Kagome frantically yelled, reaching for another arrow from her depleting supply. About half an hour ago as they reached Kaede's village, a hoard of youkai had come upon them, almost all with at least one Shikon shard. They were probably sent by their arch nemesis Naraku. Thankfully, there was no sign of one of his offspring. It was hard enough fighting this group.  
  
At first sight of the swarm of youkai, Kagome had ordered Kaede to take the villagers to safety, somewhere they couldn't get hurt.  
  
At the moment, Inuyasha was up against what they supposed was the leader since it had five shards imbedded deep within its forehead. Miroku and Sango had separated from the group to help exterminate a village. The only reason Inuyasha had allowed Kagome to come back was because they had run out of ramen.  
  
Her arrow struck true time and time again, destroying at least half of the group, but when she reached behind her next time, Kagome couldn't find any more. "Inuyasha, I've run out of arrows."  
  
"Run to the well, Kagome!" He said, killing off some of the lesser youkai. "I'll cover you."  
  
"But Inu-"  
  
"Go, Kagome!"  
  
"Um, right." She turned to run to the well, but not before a youkai was able to give her a stomach wound. She blasted it away with some of her miko powers and continued to run to the dry well, paying no notice to the pain.  
  
~~~~~Back to modern day Japan  
  
When they finally reached the shrine, no one could sense any danger, so Kurama proceeded to knock on the door. Her little brother, Souta, answered. "Hello, you must be Kagome's friends. What are you doing here?"  
  
"Is she home?" Kurama asked. He could neither smell nor sense the girl.  
  
"Sorry, she's out right now."  
  
/Strange. Isn't she supposed to be sick with the flu or something?/ Kurama's thoughts were much the same as his alter ego's. "In that case, may we look around?"  
  
Souta thought for a second before replying, "Sure. Just don't get too close to the well. It's in that old building over there. You could hurt yourself if you fall."  
  
Kurama nodded his thanks and the others followed him. They all wanted to see this well. On the outside it looked normal enough, as well as the inside, but he could tell this was definitely the source of his bad feeling came from.  
  
They all stepped inside the old wellhouse, wondering what was so special, then walked down the steps to get closer.  
  
Looking down into the darkness, they heard a scream, followed immediately by a slap. "Yusuke, you jerk! Don't you ever do that to me again!" Guess what happened? Yep. Yusuke pushed Keiko towards the well, making her almost fall and she immediately retaliated him by giving him one of those oh-so- attractive red handprints. Then she backed away to one of the walls, far away from any danger.  
  
Meanwhile, Kuwabara was laughing like a baka. "Haha, Urameshi! Serves you right for playing a trick on a girl! Haha!"  
  
Before things started to get ugly(er than Kuwabara. Hehe^-^), Botan stepped in with a sweatdrop. "So Kurama, what's the big deal with this well. There's nothing special about it." Just as she said this, bright bluish- purple lights appeared from nowhere, starting dimly, then getting brighter.  
  
"Hey, guys, I'm starting to get a tingle feeling." Everyone rolled their eyes at Kuwabara's latest stupid remark.  
  
"Hn."  
  
When the lights dissipated, blood could be smelled at the bottom of the well. The ningens of course couldn't smell it. Kurama, immediately recognizing Kagome's scent with it, left down the well to retrieve the girl, who was suffering from a stomach wound. Just as Kurama jumped to the lip of the well with Kagome in his arms, the light began to shine again.  
  
This time a bat-like youkai flew from the well. Kagome's blood could be smelled coming from it's long, sharp, claws.  
  
The spirit detectives immediately stepped into action. But every time they attacked, it was able to regenerate. Yukina finally froze it, but the ice melted too quickly for anyone except for Hiei to attack. Finally Kurama put Kagome down with the girls so he could help in the fight. Coincidentally, it was right where she stored her arrows. With some of the last bit of strength she possessed, Kagome drew an arrow onto the bow and released it with enough miko energy to destroy the youkai. Then, drawing on the last of her strength reserves, she crawled over to where she spied the Shikon shard and it purified at her touch.  
  
Then she fainted, with a death grip on the shard and the spirit detectives looking upon the sight in wonder. Just what kind of person was Kagome?  
  
AN: As usual, tell me if something sounds a little off. Sorry if anyone wanted a big fight scene, but when I tried writing it, it sounded really bad, so I'll try some other time. Um, I think I'm gonna post another, but much shorter, chappy on Friday, if I reach at least 50 REVIEWs. That's not too demanding, now, is it? So, anywho, watch out for me.^.^  
  
REVIEWer Responses:  
  
Rogue solus: Sorry, but I'm not going to do that pairing in this story. This is mostly because I don't want to have all the Kenshin people there because it's too hard to keep track of so many people. Besides, I had a good way to get Mir&meg together that just wouldn't leave me alone, and this is the only crossover do with the Kenshin characters I'm planning to have unless I get the right inspiration, so this was my only chance to do this. Hope u understand. ^_^  
  
DemonLady1: Yay! I have another new REVIEWer.  
  
Xianghua: As always, thanx for the support! 


	11. Awake

Disclaimer: Me no own, you no sue.  
  
Just a quick note: I put up the summary for a new fic I'm gonna put up when I finish this one. That is IF I get any REVIEWs. Please check it out. The title is Kagome: A Modern Day Soap Opera. It's a parody of all soap operas, by the way. I'd just like to know whether I should write up the main outline or completely trash the idea. R&R please! ^_^  
  
Chappy 11: Awake  
  
The spirit detectives kept looking from the youkai, which was now dust from Kagome's purification powers, to Kagome herself. To the youkai. And back to Kagome.  
  
The first to break out of the pattern was Kurama who smelled Kagome's blood and immediately was snapped back to action. He quickly turned her over, for after grabbing whatever that shiny thing was she fainted flat on her stomach. He lifted her shirt so that her stomach showed. When he saw the gaping wound he physically winced. It was caked in the dirt that served as the floor of the wellhouse.  
  
"We have to wash all of this dirt off before the infection spreads." The other two demons reacted quickly. Yukina made chunks of ice above the wound and Hiei used his fire powers to heat it so there was warm, flowing water pouring over the wound like a waterfall.  
  
Once all of the dirt was washed away, Kurama summoned the seed of a healing plant to his hand and after placing it in the center of the gash he used his youki to make it grow. Several medium sized leaves sprang up and covered her injury like a bandage.  
  
Kagome soon woke up to the smell of roses. 'Mmm. I love roses,' surprisingly was her first thought. She opened her eyes and was unable to greet the shock of seeing her new friends in the wellhouse, for it was quickly replaced by the memories of why she was here in the first place. "Inuyasha!" she yelled out. The others stared at her in surprise. Kurama, for some odd reason, felt a small pang of jealousy.  
  
She tried to get up, but was held down by one of Kurama's hands. She narrowed her eyes and unconsciously sent out a thin coating of purification energy around her body. Kurama's hand snapped back in surprise. She took her chance and, faster than most ningen in her condition, scampered to the well and jumped, holding her stomach.  
  
Unfortunately, she failed to realize that the two Shikon shards had fallen out of her hands. Kurama and Hiei each grabbed one in midair. They stared at them for a moment, mentally shrugged, and pocketed them (their reasoning being Kagome seemed to have destroyed the youkai to get these shards. They don't realize these are parts of the Shikon no Tama), then jumped in the well after Kagome. They, too, were surrounded by those purple-blue lights.  
  
Back in the wellhouse Yusuke muttered, "What the-" then proceeded to attempt jumping down the well after the others, but was stopped by Botan's voice. "What is it now, Botan?"  
  
"Yusuke, there's no telling how deep that well is, or whether it will work for everyone. If you jump, you could be injured. Or, for all we know, this well could be bottomless. Trust Kurama and Hiei. They can take care of Kagome."  
  
"So we're just supposed to wait here for the shrimp and Kurama?" asked Kuwabara.  
  
"That's exactly what we're going to do," Botan said firmly. They didn't argue.  
  
AN: I know this is kind of short, but it just felt right ending it here. Besides, this is my third update this week, and the last one was pretty long.  
  
Before I respond to my new REVIEWs, I'd just like to say: I feel so loved! Everyone wants me to update^.^  
  
READ THIS*********Hey! Guess what? I just counted and I have 25 REVIEWERs and 59 REVIEWs! I'll update once I get up to 70, or at least kinda close to it. I want a nice, round, even number. You can even flame about this being so short!^.^  
  
REVIEWer Responses:  
  
Helen: I was a little confused while writing it, so I can see how you got confused reading it. As long as u got the point.  
  
Kagome11492: What do u mean chappy 10 was short? It was my longest one yet.  
  
DumbAssPunk: thanx! I just had to put that ugly thing in there. At first I was going to have Inu by himself with the whole 'I'm just happy to be like her brother' attitude, but SilentDark, one of my most supportive REVIEWers wanted the role of his gf, sooo. Oh yeah! As u can see, everyone (except kenshin people and SilentDark) will meet each other in the next chappy. And it will be at least twice as long as this one, if I'm lucky.  
  
Xianghua: I'm not sure whether you would call it a big part. In superhero terms, in my fic they're both kinda like sidekicks. But even if they're not major characters, they're still gonna have important roles. Miroku's might be considered a little more important, but I don't want to spoil anything!  
  
Artemis the Goddess: Glad u like everything!^_^ 


	12. Kurama and Hiei out of the well

Disclaimer: Me no own, you no sue.  
  
Hi! Sorry everybody. I typed this up, but forgot to upload! ^_^' well, things like that happen around one in the morning. Anywho, as soon as I finish this sentence, I'm saving and uploading.  
  
Chappy 12: Kurama and Hiei out of the well  
  
When Kagome arrived at the other end of the well, she still didn't really notice the pain in her stomach. Whatever Kurama (she was sure he was the one who did it. Let's just call it women's intuition) had done, it had numbed the pain enough so she could reach the village where Kaede lived.  
  
She struggled on and was soon confronted by a red and silver blur. Inuyasha. She smiled at him brilliantly and ran up to give him a big hug. He returned it, hesitantly at first, then became more sure of himself. "Oh, Inuyasha," Kagome said, "I'm so happy you're okay! What happened after you told me to run? Surely you couldn't have defeated all those youkai by yourself, even with the Windscar!"  
  
"We had good luck at the village, Lady Kagome, and arrived here in time to help," said a calm male voice from behind.  
  
"Miroku! Sango!" She hugged Sango then shook Miroku's hand, trying to keep a safe distance away, but he pulled her towards him and embraced her. Unfortunately, his hands, ahem, traveled a little too low in Kagome's opinion. Also, this action made her remember what had happened to herself. She winced, clutching her stomach once more, while at the same time two hands and one giant boomerang came in contact with the houshi's head.  
  
"Damned hentai! Stop touching Kagome!"  
  
"Um, Inuyasha?" Kagome said while poking him in the shoulder. "He's already passed out." Surely enough, there was Miroku, sprawled out on the grass with a lecherous grin on his face. Even in this state he had 'those kinds of thoughts'.  
  
"Kagome, what's wrong with your stomach? Are you in some kind of pain?" Sango asked. She was obviously concerned for the one she thought of as her little sister.  
  
"Yeah, what's wrong with you?"  
  
"Hm? Oh, it's, uhhh, nothing," she said while she smiled a little while waving her hands in front of her face as if that proved she was fine. "Just a little scratch from the battle. Really!"  
  
"Just a little scratch my ass!" Inuyasha said as he approached Kagome.  
  
She stepped back a little. "It's nothing, Inuyasha!"  
  
"Then prove it!" He grabbed the front of her shirt and lifted it up just enough to see her stomach. He and Sango both looked over it in confusion. Leaves aren't too ordinary to see in a person's body, after all. "What the hell happened?!"  
  
******With Kurama and Hiei  
  
Both youkai watched in amazement as the lights surrounded them as they did Kagome. Then they faded when they landed at the bottom of the well. "Are we right back where we started then?" Kurama asked, noticing they still stood in a well.  
  
"Hn. Look up, fox."  
  
He did, and noticed that, instead of a roof over their heads, was a clear blue sky. In the next second, both of the youkai had jumped from the well to discover they were totally surrounded by trees.  
  
/This is a nice change in scenery/ Youko said to Kurama. /Why don't we just live here?/  
  
Kurama didn't say anything because he agreed with Youko, except for the moving part. He owed too much to his human mother to leave her just like that.  
  
But before either of them could really absorb any of their surroundings, they heard someone yelling, "Damned hentai! Stop touching Kagome!"  
  
"Kagome," both youkai breathed.  
  
/Whoever is touching her will die!/  
  
Kurama rolled his eyes at Youko's words. ~Whatever...~  
  
They arrived just in time to see Kagome standing in a field filled with youkai bodies, standing beside another woman and one unconscious man in houshi robes. An inu hanyou was pulling up her shirt, much to Kagome's displeasure, it seemed. "What the hell happened?!"  
  
Before Kagome could even begin to explain, the inu was trying to rip the plants away from her.  
  
/Good luck, dog-boy. Those won't come off until I wish it./ He outwardly smirked.  
  
"Hn."  
  
"Shall we, Hiei?"  
  
The two modern day youkais stepped from their concealing trees (yep, they both still love trees) and into the open. The inu was the first to notice. "Oh great, more weaklings to deal with." He cracked his knuckles like he was trying to be intimidating.  
  
"Huh? What are you talking about Inuyasha?" Kagome's eyes widened as she turned to see two guys dressed in modern clothes, one of which she recognized. "What are you doing here?"  
  
*********** AN: This chappy and the next were supposed to be together, but I couldn't really get the words right. It all sounded like I was half-asleep in the second part (which I was), so I'll work on it and post it Sunday or Monday. I think that's all I have to say for now.  
  
One more thing though. Read this really quick. It's the prologue of my homework thing I was talking about in my author's note that I replaced with this chappy. I know it may sound like I was on something, but I was completely sober when I wrote it (which was also after 12 am.). Anywho, just read. It's kinda funny. ^.^  
  
Death. What is death? Why are people so afraid of death? Why can't people just accept it? Is death really all that bad as people make it out to be? Is death a real, tangible thing? Or is it made up? Where do we go when we die? Are we reincarnated over and over again? Or do we just fade away into the endless abyss? Or stay to haunt people we didn't like in our life? When people are asleep, are we half-dead? If so, don't we die every day? And if that's true, we cheat death every day, right? Are people inevitably meant to die? And if so, then why are people always trying to cheat death? Why are they trying to find the Fountain of Youth? The Fountain of Youth. What is the Fountain of Youth? Is it just something made up by a drunk one night at a tavern? Is it a new kind of soda? Wouldn't that be weird? Or perhaps it's a beautiful fountain where only the young are allowed to go? If not, why is it called the Fountain of Youth? Surely it does not truly grant eternal youth? Such a thing would be foolish, would it not? After all, who would want to be young forever? Who would want to see everyone they care for die? Or perhaps the Fountain steals youth to stay alive? Stealing. Why do people steal if stealing is bad? Isn't that what everyone always says? But wouldn't you say that's beside the point? Point. What is the point? It has to be around here somewhere. I was thinking about putting up a fic (not big story fic) with a bunch of these little random things beginning with one IY character, then going on and on randomly like I did in that. Sound good? Those are so fun, too! ^.^  
  
REVIEWer Responses:  
  
Nothing to say, really. But thanks everyone for your REVIEWs! Oh! And thanx if anyone REVIEWed my other story. I will be writing it once I'm finished with this one. 


	13. Story Time!

Disclaimer: Me no own, you no sue.  
  
Hola, minna! Hey, that was Mexinese! (Mexican and Japanese put 2gether^.^) Sorry, I found, like, a whole bag of pixie stix a little while ago. @_@He he@_@. Anywho, I just wanted to say that this will probably be my last update for a couple of days, cuz I ordered the entire series of trigun a week ago and I'm expecting it today, so when it does come, my friends are coming over the next day to watch the whole thing with me. So just don't hate me if I don't update for a little while, it's cuz I'm not going to be typing up chappies while watching trigun.  
  
Chappy 13: 'Once upon a time' and more strange ways to begin a story  
  
"Kurama! What are you doing here? And who's that?"  
  
"Kagome, you know these guys?"  
  
"Obviously, hanyou. Otherwise, she wouldn't have known his name. Baka." He said the word 'hanyou' in disgust.  
  
"What'd you just say, shorty?"  
  
"Inuyasha, you shouldn't insult Kagome's friends. She might-"  
  
"SIT"  
  
"-you. Ah he heh. I tried to warn you."  
  
This was basically how the conversation went between the five. Inuyasha, being the normal over-protective brother-like figure didn't like these boys, especially that 'Kurama' person. But how someone couldn't like Kurama is beyond me.  
  
"So, Kurama, how did you and. . ."  
  
"Hiei," Kurama supplied.  
  
"How did you and Hiei get here? The well won't let just anyone through."  
  
"Don't go and tell them about the well, wench!"  
  
"Sit boy! If they already went through the well, then what's the point?! Use your brain!"  
  
Kurama sweatdropped and Hiei raised his eyebrow, like, a millimeter and 'hn'-ed "We're not sure how we got here, if this well is as selective as you say, but the reason we came here was to return these." He held out a shard. "You worked so hard for them; we believed them to be important to you."  
  
Inuyasha, who had just gotten out of his hole and hadn't been listening to Kurama, immediately took out Tetsusaiga and pointed it at the boys from the future. "Watch out, Kagome, they're trying to get the Shikon shards!" Kurama's and Hiei's eyes visibly widened when he said 'Shikon'.  
  
"Inuyasha, sit! SITSITSITSITSITSITSIT!!!!!!! Use your brain, you baka! If they were going to take the Shikon shards, they would be attacking right now, AND they wouldn't be so polite."  
  
"Umm. . . Kagome? He's already unconscious." Apparently, Sango was the only one who ever noticed these things.  
  
She sighed. "I guess you're right." She turned to the future boys. "I suppose you'd like to know what's going on, huh?" They both nodded. "Can't really blame you, I guess. Well, who wants to carry these two bakas back to Kaede's?" No one volunteered. It was one of those scenes when everyone just kinda turns their head away from the problem and do their best to pretend that they're not there.  
  
Since no one was willing to accept the task, she instead took a pad of paper and a pencil out of the pocket of her jeans, which she had found out was much more practical than the skirt she used to wear, and wrote a note:  
  
Dear Inuyasha and Miroku,  
  
When you two wake up, go to Kaede's hut. Hopefully you two have learned a valuable lesson from all of this and won't grope and/or be too overprotective of us in the future. Also, Inuyasha, if you attempt to hurt any of my (Kagome) friends in the future, I will sit you until you can't walk straight. Hope your headaches aren't too bad when you both wake up! ^.^  
  
Sincerely (but very annoyed),  
  
Kagome and Sango  
  
She then proceeded to fold it up and stuff the note into Miroku's hand.  
  
"Okay, Sango, if you don't mind, please go back to Kaede's and tell her that she should prepare for company, no more than six or seven more than us. Oh, and don't forget to have the villagers start cleaning up this mess. We'll help as soon as we can."  
  
Sango nodded and ran off.  
  
"Now, let's go get everyone else," Kagome said, turning to the only two left standing. "I'm sure your other friends are anxious to know what happened." All three of them walked on in the direction of the Bone-Eater's Well when Kagome felt something that had been bothering her for a while now. "You two are both youkai, aren't you? I kept feeling something ever since I met you, but it's much stronger now, although still faint. Are you masking your energies?"  
  
"Hn. Stupid ningen."  
  
Kagome decided to ignore that when Kurama said, "Yes, we are. You must be powerful, Kagome, to even feel a trace of our youki."  
  
She blushed at the compliment. "I expect you both to explain yourselves later." She then jumped into the well, with the two youkai close behind.  
  
~~~~~~~the wellhouse  
  
When they landed on the other side of the well and the lights disappeared, Kurama grabbed Kagome and jumped out of the well. She couldn't help but notice his muscular chest, and had a dreamy smile on her face until he released her, she being a little disappointed at the loss (*tears* oh, the poor girl! ^.^). They found the others looking at them expectedly.  
  
Kagome looked around. "Um, hello everyone. I'm sure you're all kinda wondering what's been going on, right? Well, um, I'll explain once we're all on the other side, sooooo~, here, each of you take one of these and then jump into the well," she said, breaking off a few pieces of the Shikon for the group.  
  
"Are you sure it's safe?" Keiko asked.  
  
"It's okay, Keiko," Botan said in her normal, cheery voice. "You can ride with me." Kagome, with her back turned away from the two girls, failed to notice our favorite grim reaper pull a broom from midair and the girls flying on it down the well. Once all the shards were distributed, Kagome and Kurama were the only ones left.  
  
"Shall we?" Kurama asked, extending his hand. Kagome took it, but was unprepared for him to lift her up bridal style before jumping into the well once more. Not that she minded, or anything. (Who would?)  
  
~~~~~~~Sengoku Jidai again  
  
Everyone was assembled in the clearing, and when Kurama emerged carrying Kagome, they both got knowing looks. They both rolled their eyes. Kagome smiled. "Before I explain anything, we have to help with the cleanup."  
  
"Cleanup?!" Yusuke and Kuwabara exclaimed.  
  
"Well, yeah. Follow me, everyone."  
  
The spirit detective group followed her to the field of decaying demon bodies. Inuyasha and Miroku had woken up shortly after Kagome left through the well. Inu was now sulking, as usual. Miroku was helping to purify the grounds that the youkai had defiled with their blood and Sango was looking through the bodies to see if anything could be used to make weapons, armor, and whatnot. Once going through her careful inspection, the bodies were taken to the Bone-Eater's Well. Kagome explained all that had happened during this battle while they worked; she was also helping Kaede and Miroku purify everything. She was a little displeased to learn that, before any Shikon shards could be taken, Naraku's insects had come. 'At least we got the two from the youkai that followed me to the future.'  
  
Finally, the mess was all cleaned up and they headed back to Kaede's hut. Kagome immediately went to Shippou, who had slept through the whole ordeal after mistaking the sleeping pills in Kagome's bag for candy. They all sat down while the old woman put water on to boil for tea while inspecting Kurama's bandaging of Kagome. It was strange, but she sensed no ill will coming from either it or Kurama, so she decided it was probably helping the girl she thought of as her own granddaughter.  
  
They all waited in silence until Yusuke just couldn't stand it any more. "So what's with you and this place, Kagome?"  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry; I guess I've been a little rude, haven't I? Well, some of this may be hard to believe, but it has all happened. It all started on my fifteenth birthday, when my grandpa was telling me about some stupid legends. . ." (I don't need to waste time explaining since we all know the story) "Which brings us up to today."  
  
Everyone now had these expressions on: 0.0.  
  
"Wow! You really fought all those youkai?" said Kuwabara.  
  
"You must be very strong, Kagome," Yukina said in her calming voice.  
  
"But weren't you scared?" asked Keiko.  
  
"Well, I had lots of help."  
  
"I should probably go back soon and report to Koenma about all of this," Botan said under her breath.  
  
"Koenma? Who's Koenma?" asked Sango, who was petting Kirara with one hand and cleaning her Hiraikotsu with the other.  
  
"Koenma's the ruler of Reikai."  
  
Everyone but the yyh group had the 'okay, we don't know what the heck you're talking about, but we'd love to hear an explanation before we send you off to the mental hospital' expression on their faces.  
  
"Botan's the Grim Reaper," Yusuke said coolly.  
  
"Yes, it is my job to take the souls of dead people to Reikai and to give Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei, and Kurama their missions from Koenma."  
  
"I'll take over from here, Botan. You see, it all started when I died. . ." Yusuke began. (Don't you love it when he starts that way? It makes me laugh every time^.^) (And we all know about him, so I'll skip again.)  
  
The Inu-gumi's reactions were much the same as the yyh, so they all spent a while answering each other's questions.  
  
"Kagome," Sango began, "Weren't you going to explain how they were able to get through the well?"  
  
"Oh, yes. You see, the youkai that followed me attacked before I could jump through the well, and it also had Shikon shards. Then Kurama and Hiei were able to get through the well, but all they had were Shikon shards, and no one can get through the well with just Shikon shards. We know because Naraku has tried that (not sure, but let's just say he has). So I thought about it a little and found that the only way to get through the well was to have some part of me, as well as a Shikon shard. For that youkai, it was my blood; for Inuyasha, the prayer bead necklace connects me to him, so that's all he needs, since because I am connected to him, he is also connected to the Shikon. For our spirit detective friends over here, it was my purification powers inside each of the Shikon shards that allowed them passage through the well." Everyone looked at her with dumbstruck expressions. She looked down and noticed her watch. "Oh no! It's past twelve already and I still have to study for my math test!" She ran out of the hut as fast as her legs could take her. "Tell Shippou I said bye!"  
  
She traveled through the well for what felt like the hundredth time that day, followed closely by a sweatdropping group of spirit detectives. This was certainly something to remember. . .  
  
*************** AN: I'm so happy, this chappy was 5 pages long! Anywho, yeah, here you guys have it. A long chappy before I don't update for a while. At least I'm being nice. Hope you liked it.  
  
OH, and thanks to everyone who REVIEWed The Arrival by RandomQueen109 (*hinthint to anyone who didn't). She's feeling much better now, thanks to you guys. ^.^  
  
REVIEWer Responses:  
  
SilentDark: Yep, you do just gotta love those trees. And yyh/iy crossovers, especially when Kag's paired with Kurama or Hiei. ^.^  
  
Ummmm. . .yeah. Think that's it for now. Thanks to everyone who has REVIEWed. You guys make me feel so loved! ^.^  
  
Well, I'm gonna go see if my trigun stuff has come yet.  
  
Ja Ne!  
  
-anonymousey 


	14. The Love of Kikyou and Hojo

Disclaimer: Me no own, you no sue.  
  
Hola, minna! I'm back again. I'm so happy that last chappy uploaded right, cuz when I was looking through the lists, I didn't see it at first, so I got worried. Let's face it, I just missed the REVIEWs. Those have to be addictive or something. . . Anywho, I just realized something: I've been forgetting about our two interferers, Kikyou and Hojo. So this is a short chappy just about them. Beware: I will be making a lot of commentaries in this chappy. There is also potential of gagging: read at your own risk.  
  
NOTE TO SET TIME OF CHAPPY: About ten to twenty minutes after Kag and the S.D. came back through the well. They all went home to sleep, and Kagome has fallen asleep on her math books while studying.  
  
Chappy 14: There's More Than One Way to get to Hell  
  
Kikyou had never felt so alive while she was dead before. Sure, it felt great when she absorbed all those souls of dead women (think drug abuse @_@), but nothing could compare to the way she felt when she was with her love, Hojo (*cough*Homo, Hobo, etc.*cough*). He was the perfect man, so caring, and sensitive, always thinking of her, not himself. He was so much better than Inuyasha. Of course, she had never been in love with Inuyasha. Sure, she cared for him as a friend, but the only reason she'd befriended him in the first place was so that they could wish for him to become human, and thus purify the Shikon no Tama out of existence. If anything more had become of it, then so be it. She couldn't have cared less.  
  
But now, as she held the hand of her new love, she didn't have a care in the world. She felt as is she were flying, in heaven, on cloud nine, etc. (who else is gagging right now? *everyone raises both hands* I'm glad we're all in agreement).  
  
As for how Hojo felt, he was the same as Kikyou, minus the Inuyasha part. He never knew why he liked Kagome so much in the first place; she was nothing compared to Kikyou. To him, Kikyou was like an angel from heaven (*cough* clay pot from hell*cough*).  
  
Hojo and Kikyou walked up the steps to the house located on the Higurashi Shrine in utter bliss. Right before leaving, though, Hojo turned around and stared at Kikyou with his beautiful eyes, then took both of her hands in his and said, "Kikyou, I cannot contain my feelings for you any longer. Kikyou, I love you!"  
  
Tears of joy fell through Kikyou's dead eyes as she confessed her own love of Hojo to him.  
  
"Kikyou."  
  
"Hojo."  
  
"Kikyou."  
  
"Hojo."  
  
This went on as their faces came closer and closer together, and they finally kissed passionately. (EWWW!)  
  
They reluctantly drew apart. With one last, quick kiss, Hojo left Kikyou. She watched him leave while she stood at the top of the shrine steps.  
  
Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), Hojo wasn't paying attention to what was happening, so happy was he that he didn't notice the big ice cream truck until it ran over him, and kept going. (That's my favorite part of this chappy ^.^)  
  
Kikyou's soul-stealing bugs carried her quickly to her love. She picked up his body, saying to herself, "I will take us to hell, my love, where we can live together forever in happiness."  
  
"Not so fast, Kikyou," said a cheery voice above them, "You're not going to hell. Neither of you are."  
  
Kikyou looked up to see a blue-haired girl in a pink kimono riding on an. . .oar? "Who are you?"  
  
"I'm Botan, the Grim Reaper, at your service. Now, I need to take you both to Reikai, I'm already a little behind schedule."  
  
Without saying anything more, Botan took both of their souls to Reikai and then heaven, where they lived happily ever after, the end.  
  
******  
  
AN: I hope you all managed to get through that without too much damage. I just had to get them out of the way. Sorry for all those a/n in the chappy, it was too hard to resist. Anywho, I may get another chappy out before the end of the holidays, I may not. Just fyi in advance: kagome and the S.D. will not appear in the next chappy, and that chappy will not be long, but it also won't be as short as this one. Just to let you guys know. I think that's it for now.  
  
REVIEWer Responses:  
  
Ambergirl: Me too! ^.^  
  
Ginny Brenn: I've never heard it put quite that way, but I'm glad you feel that way.  
  
Youkikagome: thanks again for telling me! Now all the grey hairs have gone away!  
  
Artemis the Goddess: Thanx!  
  
To all my REVIEWers: Love and Peace! I'll update as soon as I can!  
  
Ja ne!  
  
--anonymousey ^.^ 


	15. The Judgement

Disclaimer: Me no own, you no sue.  
  
WARNING!! IF YOU LIKE KIKYOU AND HOJO, DO NOT READ THIS CHAPPY!!!!! You have been warned. I am writing this for my Haters that seemed disappointed for the last chappy, but it is not crucial to the plot or the fic.  
  
Chappy 16: The Judgement (mwahahahaha!!!!)  
  
Kikyou and Hojo had actually passed out when Botan had taken them to Reikai. Seeing their inner selves (souls) must've been too hard on the two of them. Or it could be the fact that Botan had hit them both over their heads with her wonderful oar because she got so annoyed with them. She also knew that the pot had stolen Kagome's soul. As for Hojo, well, he just deserved it for, er, stalking the poor girl all the time.  
  
When the nimrods awoke, it was in a pitch-black room that smelled heavily of charcoal and dust. And some other unidentifiable smells, at least for two humans. If either had a drop of youkai blood, they could have easily passed out again, and perhaps have died.  
  
Then, the room magically began to light up. Well, not the room, but soft spotlights around the two. Just barely to the right of her, the pot thought she saw a scull, with the flesh still rotting. Of course, she felt some kind of kinship to it, with her being dead and rotting for the second time. Hojo was still clueless as always.  
  
Then, a booming voice came out of the darkness, seemingly from everywhere. "Clay Pot," it thundered, "your name is kikyou, is it not?"  
  
Said pot simply turned her head in annoyance. She cried out in pain when a shallow cut appeared on her left arm from her shoulder to her wrist.  
  
"Answer!"  
  
She didn't.  
  
The idiotic 'love of her life' (gag me) then was levitated in the air, and several cuts were made, making him scream like the little girly boy he was.  
  
"Yes, I am."  
  
"Then tell me, is it really you who is Kagome Higurashi's incarnation?"  
  
It took more torturing and screaming of the idiot to get her to confess. "Yes."  
  
"Very well then. This will be my Judgement. "  
  
A searing pain entered her then, like a white-hot knife tearing her apart from the inside. Remotely around her, she heard her love (*choke*) screaming pathetically.  
  
Then a small, pinkish white orb was seen traveling away from the pot's soul- body to somewhere unknown. (I think we all know what this is and where it is going). All that was left of the pot's soul-body was an ugly old hag. Idiot cringed at the sight of the repulsive thing he had once so stupidly loved.  
  
"Kagome's soul has now returned to her. All that is left of you is your dark, hate-filled soul. You will now be sentenced to be in HELL under the 'care' of the Executioner for the rest of ETERNITY!"  
  
A white pit filled with black lightning opened beneath them.  
  
Pot and Idiot fell into the deep abyss. . .  
  
Never to be seen again. . .  
  
Never heard from again. . .  
  
Except for their tormented screams from the chambers of the. . . EXECUTIONER FROM HELL!!!!!!!!! MWUAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Meanwhile, back on earth  
  
It had been days since the accident, but no one claimed the sandy-haired boy that had been run over by the ice cream truck while carrying a pot that must have once been shaped like a woman. Seriously, the things some sickos will do. . .  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Back with the sicko's parent's  
  
"Finally, he's gone!" said his mother, who was watching the news with her husband.  
  
"Yeah, now that he won't be wasting the products from our store for that Higurashi girl, or her new cousin, we can save up for retirement," her husband responded.  
  
"Well, we should probably burn those plans we had to murder him now that someone's done it for us."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*In Munchkin Land (don't own them either)  
  
A short little man dressed up in odd clothes ran out of the miniature news station, where they got news reports from other worlds. Outside, a large crowd of chibi people, who liked to call themselves the Munchkins of the FollowTheYellowBrickRoad Republic, were waiting anxiously.  
  
"SHE'S DEAD! AND SHE TOOK THE IDIOT WITH HER!"  
  
"I say this calls for a song," said another Munchkin.  
  
"You don't mean THE song, do you?" said a little schoolgirl Munchkin.  
  
"Of course I did," he replied.  
  
"Well then let's get started!" Curtains drew back, revealing a band. "One, two, one two three four!" "Ding Dong! The Bitch is dead! Which old Bitch? The Clay Zombie Bitch! Ding Dong! The Bitchy Bitch is dead!" And so they went on, until they all passed out the next day. ******  
  
A/N: Hey, Haters! How'd you like that chappy? I tried to make it as terrible as I could think of for the idiot and clay pot just for you guys, cuz you were a little disappointed with the last chappy, since I had Botan take the two away. Oh, and I typed this up in, like, five minutes, so there's probably some mistakes, but u guys get the general idea.  
  
Ja Ne!  
  
Next chappy tomorrow!  
  
--anonymousey 


	16. Enter Kori

Disclaimer: Me no own, you no sue.  
  
Hiya, everybody! Guess what? I got to see YuYu Hakusho: Poltergeist Report this weekend. It was so good. I recommend it. The only thing that really bothered me was that the voices were so different. Grrrr. . . But at least I finally found out who Kuronue is!  
  
Chappy 15: Enter Kori, the Kind and Gentle Youkai  
  
Kagome woke up around one in the morning, feeling a rush of energy that was her soul returning. She couldn't help but wonder, what happened to Kikyou? She then noticed her math book lying open on her desk. 'I'll just go back to sleep. I'm gonna fail, anyways; I might as well get some rest.'  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~Sengoku Jidai  
  
"That wench better be back soon," Inu grumbled as he paced back and forth the next morning.  
  
"Oh, Inuyasha," said Miroku in his usual carefree voice while trying to get closer to Sango's rear, "Give Lady Kagome a break. She has responsibilities in her time that she must take care of."  
  
"She has responsibilities to take care of here! We can't get any more shards without the shard detector!"  
  
Both Miroku and Sango rolled their eyes at this statement. Shippou did the same while shaking his head and folding his arms across his chest with that kawaii-ness he has. Kirara was taking a catnap.  
  
No one noticed when Shippou disappeared. Then Inuyasha smelled a familiar scent. It was Kagome!! Just when he was about to insult her for taking so long, she interrupted him.  
  
"Inuyasha! How dare you say those things about me! SIT!"  
  
Inu was on the ground by reflex, when he noticed that the spell wasn't keeping him down as it usually did. That's when he heard the annoying laughter of that annoying trickster of a kitsune coming from Kagome's mouth.  
  
He jumped up with a rush of speed. "I'm gonna kill you!"  
  
'Kagome' turned and he saw a bushy tail growing from her backside, confirming his suspicions of this not being his sisterly friend. After that, the chase began, with Sango and Miroku laughing hysterically. Even Kirara looked like she was laughing, as she hyperly (not a real word, but u get the point) bounced around in a little circle before collapsing to her back and rolling around in amusement. (kawaii!)  
  
But just as Inuyasha was about to catch Shippou, who had now transformed back into his usual self, a painful scream was heard. Of course, this scream just HAD to spoil Miroku's plans.  
  
'And I was so close too,' he thought with a small pout. But he instantly cheered up, as he had recognized the scream as female. "Come on, everyone, there's no time to waste!"  
  
Sango nodded once. "Right. Kirara! Keep Shippou safe once we're there."  
  
Said fire neko then proceeded to transform into her larger people-carrying state. Sango and Miroku climbed onto her back, while Shippou happily jumped. After all, he had once again outsmarted the 'stupid hayou' as he liked to call Inu.  
  
*With Inu*  
  
Inu had bolted toward the direction of the scream as soon as he had heard it. He didn't know why, usually he would wait for the others; put on that tough-guy act until Kagome 'forced' him to do something. But for some strange reason he felt that he had to hurry.  
  
When he broke from the cover of trees, he emerged into a clearing (there a lot of those in feudal Japan right now, aren't there?^.^'). What he saw was somewhat surprising.  
  
A giant, bat-like youkai, whose strong scent wasn't at all pleasant for neither demon nor hanyou. In fact, it was almost worse than the smell of rotting food that's been in the sun for several days.  
  
Across the clearing, and severely wounded, unlike the smelly bat-thing, was a beautiful youkai. No, wait, she was hanyou, he could smell it. He watched her as she struggled to raise herself while clutching at her arm, which must have been why she had screamed so terribly in the first place. He could see to the bone. Surely nothing short of the Tenseiga could return that arm to normal.  
  
On the edges of his senses, he could tell his companions had come through the forest to witness the sight before them, for he was concentrating on the beautiful hanyou before him. Just barely, he could make out her pained words. "Please leave, I will not fight you, youkai. That shard you swallowed had blackened your heard and reddened your senses, therefore it would be unjust if I were to cause you any harm. I will fight against none but Naraku and his minions."  
  
'Even in as much pain as she must be experiencing, he voice is wonderful. . .Wait! stop that thought. I don't even know her! Hey, what's she saying 'bout Naraku?'  
  
The hanyou attempted to take another step, but ended up collapsing from blood loss.  
  
"Inuyasha, go take care of the youkai, we'll make sure she's alright," he heard Miroku say. Sure enough, the next second, Kirara was carrying the two humans and kitsune toddler to the hanyou with lightning-fast speed. Certainly faster than he had ever seen the neko youkai run before.  
  
'Right.' He drew Tetsusaiga and with one attack, Kaze no Kizu of course, the youkai was annihilated and a shard popped out from its body. Knowing not to touch the tainted shard, he called Miroku over. The monk wrapped the shard in a super-purified cloth, also taking care not to touch the dark purple shard.  
  
The two men soon returned to the rest of the group and the hanyou, who looked rather worse for the wear. There were all kinds of small cuts and bruises that had been inflicted upon her by the bat youkai, along with some medium-sized cuts, those of which had been bleeding had small strips of cloth to help clot the blood. What Sango was concentrating on right now was the ghastly gash on her left arm.  
  
Without the wounds she must've been a beauty. Inuyasha mulled over this. Her skin wasn't really pale, but wasn't exactly tanned either. Her dark purple hair, which had been kept up by a blue ribbon that now hung askew, would hang to her hips were she to stand. Petals of some purple flower could be seen in her hair. Her clothes were somewhat like Inu's, but more form-fitting and black with a green undershirt. Not that there was a lot of the outfit left. Her claws were smaller than Inuyashas, and her ears were pointed and two or three times as long as Kouga's. He also noticed the female hayou had markings. There was a silver crescent moon facing the opposite direction of Sesshoumaru's. Two small silver stripes were on each of her wrists and ankles. He also took note that she wore some jewelry, but being a guy he didn't really care.  
  
The female hanyou opened her eyes slowly, revealing her white orbs with violet centers. "My name . . .is Kori." Her eyes then closed and she whispered out, "Please, before going anywhere, my bag. . ."  
  
Following her wishes, Inu grabbed her bag then picked Kori up bridal-style and, followed closely by his companions, headed to Kaede's hut. She would be able to help this poor, injured hanyou.  
  
**  
  
a/n: Well, how'd everyone like it? I have nothing to say, really, so I'll just go on to  
  
REVIEWer Responses:  
  
Instead of writing individual responses, I'll just answer the general questions this time. The last chappy wasn't supposed to be there at first, so these are from the one before.  
  
1.) Let me start off by saying that I'm not a major kikyou hater, but everything would be so much better (relationship-wise) if she didn't come back. Besides, she's literally a clay pot (well maybe not a pot, exactly. . .) that steals people's souls. However, I do think that her little soul- stealing bug-thingies are really kawaii! ^.^  
  
2.) For anyone who was upset about the death of kikyou and hojo: at least they found their one true love! ^_^'  
  
3.) The idiot and clay pot fell in love in less than a week. Yeah, I know. Let's just call it. . . Love at first sight! Heh he.eh.^.^'  
  
4.) How did kikyou go to heaven? In my mind, if kikyou didn't go to heaven, her soul wouldn't have been released to Kagome.  
  
5.) The whole purpose of that chappy was to get rid of those two so that kikyou wouldn't try to get in the way and drag inu to hell with her and whatnot, and to do the same to hojo so that he wouldn't ruin a good moment with kag/kur like the idiot surely would, were he still among the living.  
  
6.) I don't have anything against hojo, actually, but while I wrote that chappy, I was putting this guy I kinda hate (you will know who u r if ur reading this, which I doubt) in hojo's place. It was payback for all the times he's acted like a jerk.  
  
7.) Many of you are wondering when the KENSHIN gumi are coming in. I have this all planned out so that they WILL be coming within the NEXT FIVE CHAPPIES! YEAH!  
  
SilentDark: I hope I got all the descriptions right. My brains fried from all the math I had to do tonight and so I worked on this to relax a little. The next chappy will be all about you! Yay! Love and Peace!  
  
Ja Ne!  
  
--anonymousey 


	17. Kori's Story

Disclaimer: Me no own, you no sue.  
  
The usual author's note and REVIEWer Responses at the bottom.  
  
Oh, and I just wanted to quickly give credit to SilentDark for the creation of Kori.  
  
Chappy 17: Kori's Story  
  
/Youko talking/ ~Kurama talking~ 'thoughts' ~~~~~time change  
  
As Kagome packed her big yellow bag to prepare for her travels in the past, she shook her head, but regretted it almost immediately when her migraine kicked back in with twice the power. She could only pray that all that advil (don't own) she took would help. But when has medicine ever really helped when we really need it? Kagome groaned as she went through the causes of the torture.  
  
*flashback*  
  
She awoke early (@-@) in the morning to the sound of her alarm. She wasn't feeling at all chipper that morning and was contemplating on whether to actually make one of her grandpa's diseases come true to allow herself to stay home, but dismissed it because she'd missed enough school and if she didn't get a good education, then the only way she'd be able to make a living for herself is if someone needed a miko to protect them from youkai, or become a runner for the Olympics. After all from all that running around in the feudal era, she'd impressed her coaches at the school enough for them to ask her to join the track team. Of course, she refused; she hated running and did enough of it with Inu and the rest of the group. But the point is, she knew that there was no way she'd ever survive taking either of these options. So she got up and prepared for another day of hell on earth, also known as high school. (school in general, actually. If kami- sama wanted us to be smart, he would have done it himself. But oh well)  
  
Of course, with math being her first class, she had no time to study, so instead of attempting to work out the strange, foreign symbols that were supposed to be equations, she hung her head in defeat and let her thoughts drift. Almost immediately her mind found the perfect subject: the red- haired, green-eyed beauty she knew as Kurama.  
  
He was known to most people as Shuiichi Minamino. He was human in appearance, yet she felt another presence within him. It was a fox demon, she knew. A few times, she had seen a transparent figure that appeared just behind the human. This demon reminded her of Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru, and Shippou put together. For some reason, she always felt that figure watching her. Once, she had caught him staring at her, and she saw a glimmer of mischief in his amber eyes, along with what looked like a hint of possessiveness, but the next second, he was gone and she could see no one but the human. Before she could ask anything about this mysterious golden- eyed silver-haired youkai, Kurama began to speak of other things, successfully cutting off her questions.  
  
Cutting into her thoughts was the loud ring of the bell, signaling the end of first period, and she was forced to turn in her empty test, earning herself an F and a disappointed look from her math teacher. She merely sighed and did her best to not zone out during the rest of the day, but her thoughts continued to return to Kurama and that youkai.  
  
When the day was out, the group she now knew were Spirit Detectives told her that Koenma had requested to see her. She nodded distractedly, but was soon snapped out of her haze when Botan popped out of nowhere dressed in a pink kimono and riding what appeared to be an oar. She jumped in surprise, falling on her derrière. Fortunately, no one saw the bubbly girl pop out of thin air because they were in a dark alley.  
  
Kurama noticed that something was definitely wrong at this point since Kagome appeared so distracted and he had never seen the beautiful girl, who Youko had become quite curious about, act so strangely. When he asked what the problem was, she immediately broke into tears in front of the entire S.D. team, going on and on about how she failed her second math test in a row, and all the mean looks she had gotten from the teachers because she couldn't pay attention in class and wasn't there most of the time so she never knew what they were talking about, and how she would never be able to get a job, much less go to college like she wanted, at this rate. Youko actually loved the contact with the only girl who had really caught his interest, but didn't like the fact that it was under these circumstances that she hung on to him so. So he urged his human counterpart to comfort her in some way, seeing as that wasn't the youkai's specialty. As a result, Kurama offered to tutor Kagome on what she missed.  
  
Kagome was so happy at his offer that she decided to give him a peck on the cheek, but Youko took over at the last second and turned his head so that they kissed lip-to-lip. Kagome and the red-head turned away, blushing, while the rest of the group cheered, except for Hiei, who "hn"-ed as usual, but found the fox's predicament amusing nonetheless. Botan, trying to save them from this embarrassment, opened the portal to Koenma's office.  
  
From there Koenma, who had been watching them all on his big-screen TV that I have admired and wanted for so long, continued to embarrass Kurama and Kagome. By the end of it, Kagome was redder than a tomato and Kurama was attempted to harm the child-like prince of Reikai, but was stopped when Yusuke demanded the toddler tell them why they were there. After all, he had *ahem* 'more important things to do.'  
  
So Koenma then ordered them all to go with Kagome to Sengoku Jidai next time she was due there, which immediately brought the girl into a bit of despair because she had told Inu that she would be coming back today, and hadn't even started to pack.  
  
*end flashback*  
  
And so here she was, packing her big yellow bag for the past, with a huge headache. The next person to annoy her wouldn't know what hit them.  
  
When she arrived outside, all the spirit detectives were waiting for her, minus one baka, who was assigned to take care of a very low level youkai that had somehow made it past the barrier.  
  
Right now, Yusuke looked ticked off (he had to cancel a date with Keiko. AGAIN.) Hiei was his usual, indifferent self. Kurama looked heavenly with the wind blowing his hair around and his back facing the Goshinboku tree and the sunset. She didn't notice when Yusuke so rudely interrupted this picture. That is, until. . .  
  
"Kagome's got a crush on Kurama! Kagome's got a crush on Kurama!" He repeated this chant over, making Kagome blush powerfully. Then a rosebush Yusuke 'just so happened' to be standing next to began to poke at him. "Hey! What's the big idea?!"  
  
"Hn. Baka ningen," was Hiei's overused reply. It went unheard because Yusuke was too occupied with prying thorns out of his jacket.  
  
Kurama allowed himself to smirk a little. Actually, it's more like Suiichi didn't mind when Youko decided to take pride of his handiwork.  
  
/Serves the ningen right, making fun of my Kagome/ Youko said primly.  
  
~My? Where'd the 'my' come from?~ Suiichi began to panic a little.  
  
/Why shouldn't she be mine? After all, she's smart, beautiful, powerful. She'd be the perfect steal for a thief with my skill./  
  
~Boastful as ever, I see~ Suiichi sighed. ~What if Kagome is interested in another? What if she doesn't wish to become your mate?~  
  
/Look! She's coming over here. Let me have control of this ningen body for a few minutes. I'll show you/  
  
Suiichi sighed yet again. ~I don't know why, but I'll let you.~  
  
Kagome walked over to her red-headed beauty. 'Wait a second. Why am I saying he's mine? I mean, sure he's nice and everything and I like him and all, but isn't this all kind of sudden?' As I was saying before, Kagome walked over to the handsome young man she knew as Kurama, fully intent on thanking him for distracting Yusuke, the cause of most of her sudden blushing streak. As she gazed at his perfect figure, she couldn't help but notice how his emerald green eyes changed into the gold of Inuyasha's. She convinced herself it was merely a trick of the light, but in the back of her mind she registered that the light was facing his back, and therefore couldn't be the cause of this change. So she just shrugged it off.  
  
She bowed slightly to him. "Thank you very much Kurama. I know it was you that distracted Yusuke."  
  
"I should be the one thanking you," Kurama said in a much smoother, sexier voice than normal. Kagome couldn't say she didn't like it.  
  
But she looked up, rather startled. "Thank me for what?"  
  
"For this." And with those two simple words, he lifted her chin just a little bit to meet his lips. Needless to say, she didn't resist. Her eyes closed as she relaxed into his lips.  
  
When their lips connected all Kagome could think about was flowers. Red flowers. Roses to be exact. She realized it was because that was Kurama's unique scent. To her, he was the most wondrous scent she ever had the pleasure of smelling. When she was finally able to regain some of her other senses, she realized that her knees were feeling weak. But it was a good feeling. His lips, melded to hers, felt like they belonged there. Her pleasure only deepened when his tongue slipped out of his mouth to tap askingly on her closed lips.  
  
Youko, for it was him in control, gave a low growl of approval when Kagome opened her entrance for his tongue. She relaxed even more into him, to his greatest pleasure. As he wrapped his arms around to her lower back her own arms crept behind his neck, trying to pull him closer to her. Her tongue joined his own as she explored the crevices of his mouth. She moaned in pleasure when he rubbed her lower back.  
  
When the two finally broke for air a minute or two later, they continued to stare into each other's eyes.  
  
/I think I proved my point./  
  
Suiichi was speechless.  
  
That is, until Botan popped out of nowhere dressed in her usual pink kimono and riding her oar. "Yusuke! We have a problem!"  
  
"Then why didn't you call me on the communicator? That's faster."  
  
"You idiot! You turned it off!" Botan said, getting up into his face.  
  
Calmly, Yusuke reached into his pocket and took out the communicator, then flipped it open. "Heh heh. I guess you're right Botan," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "So what's the emergency?"  
  
"We found that there was a crack in the barrier between Ningenkai and Makai. Although they are all lower class, there are lots of them and Kuwabara can't handle them all, on his own. You need to leave now!"  
  
"But what about-"  
  
"Not buts Yusuke," Botan said as she hauled him up by his shirt collar to whisk him off to Kuwabara's aid.  
  
"Sorry I can't stay to help and all you guys! See you when you come back!" He yelled, secretly hoping in his mind that he might actually be able to salvage his date with Keiko.  
  
"Well," Kurama (who had taken control once more) said, "I guess it's just the three of us." Inside, Youko was cheering.  
  
/Finally! That baka ningen and his equally, if not more so, baka friend won't be bothering me and my Kagome!/  
  
~That's, 'my Kagome and I'~  
  
/Whatever./  
  
"If you guys are ready then, what are we waiting for?" All three headed into the wellhouse after Kagome said this. "Take my hands, both of you. I have the jewel shards so you should be able to get through this way."  
  
They followed her instructions, and soon the three were surrounded by the purplish blue lights Kagome had become so familiar with.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~Sengoku Jidai  
  
When they landed on the other side of the well and she was carried up by Kurama (Hiei got her bag) they were greeted by the sound of fast footsteps.  
  
Sango appeared, not one bit out of breath from the run. "Kagome, come quick!" was all she managed to get out before a ball of fluff landed smack dab in the middle of her chest.  
  
She pulled Shippou off to face her. "What's wrong?"  
  
"We were walking and a youkai was attacking her and she wouldn't fight back and she was really injured so we brought her back so Lady Kaede would help, and she's doing better, but still won't wake up and-and-and-"  
  
"Please, Lady Kagome, just hurry!" said Miroku, who had showed up in the middle of Shippou's confusing tale.  
  
Kurama took one look at their obvious distress, picked Kagome up bridal style, and rushed off at top speed to Kaede's hut.  
  
When he set Kagome down, she calmly entered the hut to find Kaede attending to a beautiful young woman who was out cold. "Kaede, what happened?"  
  
"Lady Kagome, please will you heal her?" Miroku and Sango had rode Kirara so they didn't collapse on their way back. Hiei just jumped through the trees.  
  
"We know you're stronger than you let on, Kagome."  
  
With these small urgings from two of her best friends, Kagome sank to her knees beside the youkai (she hadn't noticed this before she saw her ears). She placed her hands above her body and pinkish white light gathered, then began to surround both women. Ten minutes later, the light faded, revealing the youkai, who was in a peaceful slumber, and Kagome, who wore a tired smile.  
  
"She'll be up by morning."  
  
Later that night everyone was gathered by the fire. Kaede was grinding and bottling herbs into medicines for future use. Miroku appeared to be meditating, but his hand was unnoticeably getting closer and closer to Sango's butt. Said victim of said hentai was cleaning her Hiraikotsu while Kirara lounged in her lap. Shippou slept in Kagome's lap while Kagome leaned on Kurama's shoulder. Youko was bragging like crazy, and his human side tried his best to ignore the thief. Hiei leaned against a wall, his eyes narrowed in Sango's direction.  
  
Finally, Sango had had enough. "What's your problem, youkai? Go stare at someone else!"  
  
"Hn. Baka ningen."  
  
"Try saying that again, youkai."  
  
"Baka ningen."  
  
"That's it!" Sango began to lift Hiraikotsu, but at this time was *ahem* 'distracted' by Miroku, who had chosen this time to do what a hentai like him does best. "HENTAI!" And now Miroku was off in lala land. Sango resumed her position, once again cleaning Hiraikotsu. Kirara was attempted to inch away, but knew that would only add wood to the fire.  
  
"Hn."  
  
That's when Kagome noticed something was wrong. There was no loud, obnoxious barking, so to speak. "Where's Inuyasha."  
  
"Impatience is not a thing to bring into a sickroom, so I sent the hanyou on a fool's journey," Kaede responded.  
  
"And we made sure he was far enough away so you would come back in time to 'sit' him, Lady Kagome."  
  
As if on cue, a certain dog-eared hanyou came in, glaring at the inhabitants of the hut. "What did you say, monk?"  
  
Miroku inched away. "Nothing Inuyasha, nothing at all."  
  
Inuyasha got closer and closer until Kagome uttered the one word that always stopped him, the word he'd come to dread, that single three-letter word that could bring him to his knees. "SIT!"  
  
"Whad'd'ya do that for, wench?!"  
  
"Sit. I won't tolerate any violence tonight. Now let's all go to sleep."  
  
When Inuyasha was finally able to move, he 'feh'-ed and ran out into a tree before anything else could happen.  
  
It was early in the morning when Inuyasha awoke, as usual, and he was impatient to begin shard hunting. But first, he wanted to get that boy away from his little sister Kagome. In short, he decided to now play the role of the over-protective brother. He smirked, trying to find some way to separate the two. But then he heard something. It was very faint.  
  
He looked around and saw that youkai. Kori, she said her name was. She was sneaking away, and doing a rather good job of it, too. But not good enough.  
  
He waited for her to pass the tree he was in before he silently jumped down from behind and grabbed her by the back of her black haori. She immediately stiffened.  
  
"Please, don't hurt me. I'm but a humble elf youkai. I don't mean any harm, I-"  
  
"Stop your babbling. I'm just making sure you don't escape."  
  
Kori slumped a little and meekly said, "You mean, I'm a prisoner?"  
  
Inu was a little surprised at her behavior. He was used to women (as well as men and children) running away from him or acting like Sango and Kagome. But Kori was so acquiescent. Despite his surprise, he managed to find words. "No, you're not a prisoner, but you do owe us an explanation." She nodded, but didn't move, so he grabbed her by one of her long, pointy ears, a claw brushing against a lavender-colored flower, and hauled her back into the hut. "Everyone, wake up," he called. He was answered by a couple of groans, an especially loud one by Kagome, who was laying by the red-head, but eventually everyone was up.  
  
"Inuyasha?" *yawn* "What's wrong?" Kagome rubbed her eyes to get the sleep out of them. She looked around to see her patient standing there beside him. "Hello, there. What's your name? How are you?"  
  
She bowed, showing her respect. "My name is Kori, Lady. I am much better now. I believe it is because of you, Lady?"  
  
"I suppose. But you can drop the 'Lady' part. My name is Kagome. It's a pleasure to meet you." She made introductions. Miroku made his own (complete with 'the question'), but got hit by Inuyasha in the process, but wasn't knocked out.  
  
"We've wasted enough time now," Inu said. "Before we go shard hunting, I want some answers. And I mean everything, starting with just what you are."  
  
Kori gulped but nodded. "As I have said, my name is Kori. I am an elf youkai." Seeing mostly blank faces, she decided to elaborate. "Like silver kitsunes, my kind has a special connection with the land. We can control plants at will. But unlike most youkai, we can change appearance at will as well. We can even transform into a plant. Unfortunately, my kind is dying out. I fear I am one of the last hundred or so, but I can never tell, as many are so secretive."  
  
"What about your family?" Sango inquired.  
  
"They were both murdered when I was but a child, five at most. I was able to transform into a human and was adopted by a very loving human couple who had been unable to have children of their own. I was so happy, but two years later, my foster father was killed by a bunch of demons attacking our village. My foster mother and I managed to escape and live in another village. It was peaceful for a long time, but when I was ten, bandits attacked our village. My mother died getting me to safety. I followed the bandits to their encampment. I heard them talking about someone named Naraku, and I believed him to be their boss. I have been looking for him ever since. In the meantime, I try my best to help people. It's been eight years now, though, and still I have not avenged the death of my parents. Their bones grow restless, and I grow weary. I'm not sure if any of us will rest in peace."  
  
"So you carry a grudge with Naraku, as well," Sango pondered.  
  
"My Lady Kori, you have come to the right place," Miroku said, holding Kori's hands in his, "for we, too, are searching for a way to destroy the villainous Naraku. Please, join us on our quest, and perhaps I can help you find happiness-"  
  
At this point in time, Sango and Kagome both slapped him hard enough to leave glowing red handprints on each of his cheeks.  
  
"Baka hentai houshi."  
  
"Can't you ever help a girl without hitting on them?"  
  
"Oh, my. Is he going to be alright?"  
  
"Feh. Let's go."  
  
"Yes, Lord Inuyasha." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
***AN: Wow, that was long! Guess what? That was a whole eight pages and four lines on word! Hey everyone, before I forget I just wanted to say something. Have you ever noticed how Kenshin and Shishio & Vash and Knives (trigun) are so much alike? The things I think about when I have insomnia. . .@.@ Yay! My first major fluff scene with Kagome and Kurama! *happy dance* I hope everyone enjoyed that part.  
  
REVIEWer Responses:  
  
SilentDark: Wow, thanx for the compliment! I was really studying the description and everything of Kori when I was writing that to make sure I put as much as I could without over-describing things. Sorry this wasn't all about you, but I didn't feel like writing a whole separate chappy before this for Kag and the others, but oh well. At least it was long. And I hope you liked how I did Kori in this chappy. And about Inu smelling Kagome: Shippou is now able to mask his scent. And he's around kag so much anyways some of her scent probably rubbed off on him.  
  
Delirium: Thanx for the word. It just wouldn't come to me when I wanted it. Love and Peace!  
  
Kk: I hope this chappy explained it, but just so u know Kori is a character created by SilentDark.  
  
Lady of the Squrriles: Thanx for the list and everything! I took it with me when we went to San Antonio.  
  
Inugirl0621: 4 REVIEWs in a row. Wow!  
  
Foxygrl: I'd love to write Kag/Sess fic, but I currently don't have any ideas for them, cuz I don't want to have one of those fics that sound just like everyone else's. But if you have an idea you'd like me to write about, I'll give it a try! Be warned, though, it won't be for at least a couple of months (there's a couple other fics I want to get started first). But like I said, I'd love to, if you're willing to wait.  
  
CrimsonBlades16: I've been trying to work on that. I'll probably go back later and add more chappies and stuff and add more fluff and all if it feels really short on fluff. I hope you liked the fluff in this chappy though!  
  
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND (just in case) HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL MY WONDERFUL REVIEWERS!!!!  
  
Love and Peace! 


	18. It's the Last Straw that Breaks the Came...

Disclaimer: Me no own, you no sue.  
  
Sorry. I meant to update sooner, but a friend of mine committed suicide and I had to go to the funeral and all. In short, I was a little depressed, but the good news is I'm back now. I'm sorry if this feels a little short, but would you rather me not update at all?  
  
Chappy 18: It's the last straw that breaks the camel's back  
  
The group (including Kurama and Hiei) were walking through the middle of a forest somewhere on the edges of the western territory. Of course, the two demon hotties hadn't come without a fight. Inuyasha had been fully prepared to take both of them down, even kill them. Anything to keep them away from his "little sister." Of course this argument ended just as every other Inu and Kagome had. Kagome ended up showing him the "error in his ways" in the usual violent ways. Most likely, the only reason this worked was because by the time Inuyasha finally got out of his hole, the others were too far away to go back without wasting time. And that is where this now begins.  
  
As usual, Inu scouted ahead for danger. Kagome could only pray for whatever innocent creatures he came across. So the three girls, Kagome, Sango (who had Kirara on her shoulder) and Kori took the lead of the main group. Miroku walked a small distance behind them, admiring the *ahem* "scenery" in front of him with a lecherous smile. Kurama stood off to the side of Miroku, shaking his head at the monk. He was taking in the beauty of the place. And the kit on his shoulder was giving him quite a headache with all his talking. Hiei chose to move through the trees and cover their backs at the end.  
  
"- Andthenmommysathimandjumpeddownthewelllikeshealwaysdoes.You'dthinkhe'dhavele arnedbynowbutit'sreallyfunnywhenhegetssateventhoughit'susuallywhenmommyhasto leaveandI'mreallysadwhenshedoesbutshealwayscomesbackwith-" Shippou finally stopped to take a breath. But instead of going on, he took another breath, this time through his nose. He began to sniff around Kurama, finally ending his inspection of the boy at the lips. Shippou grinned. "Are you my new daddy?"  
  
Kurama almost fell flat on his back and Kagome nearly had a heart attack at the kit's innocent words. "I believe that's for your mother to decide," Kurama finally managed to get out.  
  
"Yay!"  
  
Just then, Inu came up to the group. Kagome thanked Kami that he hadn't been present for Shippou's recent outburst. "There's a village up ahead, about two miles or so. We can stay there for the night."  
  
Kagome wondered why he would even think of letting them stay in a village, but then noticed his lingering gaze on Kori. She stored that little piece of information for later use for blackmail.  
  
"Out of the way, peasants!" A second later, a man on a huge, brown galloping horse came down the center of the road. Inu lunged for Kori and took her into the trees, on the other side of the path as Hiei. Kurama made a move toward Kagome at the same time as the monk made a grab (not in the hentai way) for both remaining girls. They ended up in a pile on the side of the road as the rude man galloped away.  
  
The girls were on their backs, a little stunned. Kurama had an arm draped across Kagome's stomach and was laying face-down to the side of her. Miroku, however, ended up laying on top of the girls with each of his hands on one of their breast. He of course had that predictable hentai grin on his face when he realized what had occurred. Three fists made contact with his head, one of them being (dun dun dunnnnnnnnn) Hiei's, who had returned to his tree as quickly as he had left it. But the real knock-out blow came when Hiraikotsu was bashed into his head.  
  
"HENTAI!!!!"  
  
Once again, Miroku visited Lala Land.  
  
"Sango, did you have to hit him so hard?" Kagome asked as she bent down to inspect the monk.  
  
"Is he alright?" asked the ever-kind Kori.  
  
Kagome got a panicked look on her face as she saw an area by the monk's scalp color a bit. "I think there's some internal bleeding!"  
  
"What?!"  
  
Miroku was immediately loaded onto Kirara's larger form with Sango behind him so he wouldn't fall. Everyone else, except for Shippou (who was in Kagome's arms) and Kagome (who was in Kurama's arms) ran after the neko. A minute later they were all outside a house-well, more like a dojo-on the very outskirts of town. (guess where they are)  
  
Kagome immediately jumped out of Kurama's arms and knocked on the door. "Please, let us in! Our friend is injured!"  
  
A moment later, the door was opened by a man wearing a pinkish outfit with hair a little lighter than Kurama's with a cross-shaped scar on his left cheek. . .  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
AN: Dun dun dunnnnn. Who could have possibly answered the door? Well, duh! That's obvious! Next chappy will have the Kenshin characters, but most of them won't be here for more than five chappies cuz, like I said before, I can't keep up with so many characters at once. Once again, I apologize for this being so short. Part of that reason is because I was kinda inspired by my friend's death to write another original story (which will never be posted cuz I'm hoping to be published someday), so I wasn't just doing nothing. Also, don't count on the next couple of chappies to be incredibly long, though I'm sure they'll be a little longer than this one. I'll try to update by Sunday. I'm not sure though cuz I'm going back to school on Tuesday. So I guess I'll just write whenever I can.  
  
REVIEWer Responses:  
  
SilentDark: Thanx so much for advertising me!  
  
Kiko-love-kurama: Thanx as well for advertising me!  
  
KagomeYasha4448: Yep, Inu's gonna be paired with Kori cuz in this fic, everyone (minus Naraku and other miner characters) will be paired with someone.  
  
SakuraPetal13: I'm so glad I finally got around to reading your fic!  
  
Lady of the Squirrels: Did I thank u already? If not, thanx for the list! 


	19. Is There a Doctor in the House?

Disclaimer: Me no own, you no sue.  
  
I'm really, super sorry I didn't update when I said. There's no excuse really. I was a little depressed, but the real fact of the matter was I am a lazy bum! Then when I finally sit down and type of half of this, the next day I find out I have a report to do in U.S. history due two days later! Anywho, sorry if the Kenshin people are OOC but I haven't been able to watch the show since my sister and her boyfriend hog the tv basically every Saturday and he doesn't leave til like eleven or so. . .  
  
Chappy 19: Is there a doctor in the house?!  
  
Kagome immediately jumped out of Kurama's arms and knocked on the door. "Please, let us in! Our friend is injured!"  
  
A moment later, the door was opened by a man wearing a pinkish outfit with hair a little lighter than Kurama's with a cross-shaped scar on his left cheek. . .  
  
The handsome man looked at them confusedly for a moment, just on the verge of saying "oro" but instead asked, "Yes, is there something wrong?" He didn't even looked surprised by the fact that there were at least three youkai standing right in front of him (cuz Kurama and Hiei are in their human forms).  
  
This time, Sango was the one who stepped forward, followed by Kirara who still had Miroku on her back. "Please, you must help us," she implored. "We believe that our friend here may have some internal bleeding in his head due to. . .er. . .certain events. . ." At this, a light blush appeared on Sango's face and Inu "Feh"-ed.  
  
"Oh, my," said the man, "please come in, we must hurry." Just as he stepped aside to let them pass, a little boy no older than 13 or so, came running up.  
  
"Hey, Kenshin, who are they?" the kid asked rudely. He looked at the large group, then his eyes opened wide when they rested on Inuyasha. "Hey, you have a sword! Can I see? Are you any good?" His hand went for the hilt while Inu was still in shock. When he pulled the sword out, all there was only rusty metal. "Hey, what's this rusty piece of junk?! And I thought you were a real swordsman!" Just then, a black-haired girl wearing white bopped the kid on his head with a wooden sword.  
  
"Yahiko! Don't be rude! And what are you doing here?! You should be doing chores, not scaring people off!"  
  
"You're the one scaring everyone off, you UGLY GIRL! Hahaha!" That's when the boy, Yahiko, joined Miroku in a not-so-serious LaLa Land.  
  
"Sorry about that," said Kenshin. "Now, please, follow me, there's not a moment to lose!" They followed the handsome man, whom the women of the group would have fallen head-over-heels for had they not had other interests. They were lead into a room about the size of the main room of Kaede's hut and lay the injured hentai on the futon.  
  
Elsewhere, those with youkai hearing heard the woman call for someone named Sanosuke, telling him to go get someone called Megumi. Meanwhile, Yahiko had woken up and the woman, who had introduced herself as Kaoru Kamiya, was doing her best to bandage Miroku's wound, which had begun to bleed noticeably more.  
  
About ten minutes later, a brown-haired man dressed in white returned with a woman in blue. "Hello," said the woman. "My name is Megumi Takani. I am a doctor. Now, all of you, except Kaoru, please leave this room. Sir Ken, if you will please show them the way?"  
  
Kenshin nodded once, then motioned for everyone else to follow him. Seconds stretched to feel like minutes, and minutes like hours, in an uncomfortable silence, until Kaoru and Megumi exited the sickroom. "Well," said Megumi, with a faint smile on, "he's going to be just fine, with only a few minor scratches that'll heal up nicely, and he'll be asleep for a while, but should awaken within a couple of days. But what I would like to know," she said as hardness crept into her voice, "is how he even came into such a condition."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
AN: Yeah, yeah, I know it was boring, and short, and probably not something worth waiting very long for, but truth be told, I kinda forgot what I was gonna write, sooooooo. . .^.^" ON THE BRIGHT SIDE the next chapter has guaranteed funniness! (is that even a word? @.@) but it may take longer to write cuz I'm planning on making it kinda long.  
  
REVIEWer Responses:  
  
SakuraPetal13: I'm reading Roses and Thorns.  
  
SilentDark: Yep. Everyone left.  
  
SoulofSaturn: Strangely enough, when you were thinking about how the Kenshin people would react, that's what made me start writing this chapter, cuz right as I finished reading your REVIEW I thought of Yahiko and it kinda just went from there. . . Anywho, here's a bag of virtual cookies (any kind) just for you! ^.~  
  
heLLoismMe: thanx for reviewing! And I went ahead and added you to my author alert doohickey so I know when you update. 


	20. The Lecherous Monk Awakens

Disclaimer: Me no own, you no sue.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*Scene/time change while still in same time  
  
Chappy 20: The Lecherous Monk Awakens. . .  
  
~Last time~  
  
"But what I would like to know," she said as hardness crept into her voice, "is how he even came into such a condition."  
  
~This time~  
  
Kagome, knowing a certain hanyou's hot temper, decided to jump in before this formidable woman decided to provoke him. "Perhaps I should start from the beginning. You see, when I was fifteen, I fell down a dry well in my family's shrine while looking for my cat, Buyo. . ."  
  
~*~*~*ya,ya, u know the drill~*~*~*  
  
While the Kenshin people were digesting the information, Kagome and the others were wondering whether these people would think they were crazy. Megumi was looking at the schoolgirl rather strangely, but broke contact when Kenshin piped up.  
  
"Well, that makes everything make more sense. Besides, I've seen stranger."  
  
"But they still haven't answered my question, Sir Ken." She turned to them again, her glare fastened on the strange group of travelers. "What happened to that man? No one else was injured, so it couldn't possibly have been a demon, and he couldn't have hurt himself when the rider came because you said he landed on top of you ladies." At this, Sango blushed, just barely noticeably, and looked away slightly, all the while hoping the lady doctor wouldn't see.  
  
Her rant was cut off when another presence entered the room. Megumi's hands were taken up in a beseeching gesture. "Please, my lady, doesn't blame them for what happened to me, for I am but a humble monk, a servant of Buddha, and accept anything that comes to me in stride. Besides, if I had not been injured, I would never have met a vision of loveliness such as yourself." He accompanied this with a small kiss to her hand. "Now, will you do me the honor of knowing your name, or would you have me guessing the rest of my days only to die unfulfilled of my desire?"  
  
Megumi blushed. She had never before met such a kind man. Well, except for Sir Ken of course, but he was already taken. . . "My name is Megumi Takani." She bowed. "A doctor."  
  
"Ah, such a beautiful name, for an even more beautiful lady. You honor me. My name is Miroku, a traveling monk serving Buddha's will." His eyes caught hers and the two were silent.  
  
Throughout this exchange, all others were silent. Kagome and Sango didn't want to break up the moment and have the doctor turn on them again, although it was rather difficult to resist the urge of hitting him upside the head for being even a tiny little bit perverted. Kirara, like any cat demon or otherwise, was relaxing outside. Kagome had slipped a couple sleeping pills into a bag of candy for Shippou because he wouldn't shut up and that had been driving everyone crazy. Inu just rolled his eyes, but didn't do anything else. He didn't want the monk to be perverted, but he didn't want to be the cause of his death.  
  
Kori, who was right beside the hanyou, almost touching, had only one thought: 'Ah, young love,' and then began to wonder who she was referring to.  
  
The remaining demons had only one thought on their minds: 'As long as it wasn't her.'  
  
"Hey," said Kaoru, breaking the silence, "I have an idea! Why don't you all stay here while your friend heals up? It would be too dangerous to travel until your friend here is all healed up. And besides, Megumi's over here so much anyways she can look in on him every day."  
  
"What an excellent idea, Kaoru," said Kenshin.  
  
Kagome looked over at the rest of the people in her group. Seeing as there were no apparent arguments, she nodded. "Thank you very much for the offer. We accept."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
AN: Hey, everyone! I know I said this chapter would be longer and have funniness and all but. . . I completely forgot about this fic! That is, until a guy in my history class started talking about getting the YYH manga. So I decided to keep you all from killing me and give you a chapter. Hope you liked it! And I PROMISE next chapter will have the funny stuff.  
  
REVIEWer Responses:  
  
Inugirl0621: I'm glad ya like it!  
  
Kagome-chan: I'll have more fluff in the next chapter, but I felt like writing comedy, and this was the result.  
  
Xianghua: I might be able to weasel in Misao, but it won't be anything major. . . I think. . .Anywho, I'll see what I can do (hey that rhymed!)  
  
heLLoissMe: I loved reading your fic and I hope you update soon!  
  
Silverclaws: Thanx! Especially for the fic! 


	21. Maybe She Hit Him Just a Little Too Hard

Disclaimer: Me no own, you no sue.  
  
I'm sooooo sorry for not updating sooner! I feel like I have failed you all. But it's not my fault my Original Muse has been overwhelming my Fanfiction Muse. But the Original has retreated long enough for me to write this. I hope you enjoy.  
  
Chapter 21: Maybe She Hit Him Just a Little Too Hard?  
  
Kagome and Kurama sat on the roof of the Kamiya dojo, staring up at the stars. Kagome never could get over how much clearer the skies were in the feudal era than in modern times. And sharing the nights with Kurama made them even more beautiful than normal. Yet, even during these times, she felt troubled. Kurama sensed this, and wanted nothing more than for her to be her happy self again.  
  
"Kagome, what bothers you? Miss Megumi said that Miroku would be better soon."  
  
"That's not it, Kurama."  
  
"Then tell me what's on your mind, dear Kagome. Perhaps it will help ease your worries if you share them," he said, sincerely hoping it would help.  
  
Kagome took in a deep breath. "I am concerned with how long Miroku is taking to heal, but not for the reasons you are thinking of. The longer we stay in one place, the more time Naraku has to gather jewel shards. He already has over half of the jewel, we need to prevent him from collecting the whole thing."  
  
"My dear Kagome, you are worrying over nothing. As long as we are in possession of even one shard, we can still keep him from completing the jewel. I am confident we will be able to defeat the hanyou."  
  
She turned in his arms to face him. She quickly placed a kiss on his cheek, then said, "Thank you, Kurama. For everything." She looked into those deep, beautiful emerald eyes, entranced. "Kurama, there is something I've been wondering about for a while now."  
  
"Yes? What is it?" he asked patiently.  
  
"Do you want to be able to transform into your demon form whenever you wish? With you in control, of course."  
  
"It would make battles easier to win," he replied honestly, "but it's not necessary."  
  
"That was the answer I was looking for." So quickly he almost couldn't follow her movements, she kneeled in front of him with her hands on either side of his face. In seconds he could feel calming, tingling sensation traveling throughout his body. The next thing he knew, he was looking at a very pleased Kagome through amber eyes. "I wasn't really quite sure it would work," she explained sheepishly.  
  
His Youko side merely gave her a sly smile, pulled her toward him for a kiss, and then settled her back onto his lap. 'Mine...'  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
But what Youko didn't know was that Kagome was keeping something from him. She was very concerned about the lecherous monk's health at the moment.  
  
It was Sango who had first noticed something was wrong when she kneeled beside him placing damp cloths on his forehead after he had overexerted himself one afternoon. He had come back to consciousness, but she never felt that familiar hand upon her backside. Not that she missed it or anything...it was just strange. After telling Kagome this little tidbit, the younger girl realized he hadn't groped anyone since he woke up.  
  
Needless to say, they were greatly concerned about their perverted friend. Such behavior from him was just...not normal! Even to the point of being unhealthy.  
  
So they devised a plan.  
  
They looked around the room, making sure that no one was inside. Well, almost no one. This happened to be Miroku's room. And he still occupied it.  
  
Sango peeked in and was overjoyed they wouldn't have to look too long. "Hey Miroku," she called to him. He turned his head to her, giving her his undivided attention. "Me and Kagome are gonna go take a bath in the springs with the other girls. Please make sure no one disturbs us."  
  
"No problem, Lady Sango."  
  
They left, sure this opportunity would cure the monk of his...illness.  
  
They waited...and waited...and waited...and WAITED. But still the pervert did not come.  
  
Their concern went so far as to attempt even more stunts, but nothing happened.  
  
They were absolutely HORRIFIED!  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Lord Inuyasha," Kori called to the hanyou in the tree before jumping up beside him.  
  
He looked at their newest traveling companion. In such a short time, a soft spot had grown for her. And this time, he didn't refuse his feelings like he did Kagome. And besides, other than liking her, she was a big-time ego booster. "Yeah?"  
  
"Are those two normally like that?" She asked a little nervously, motioning toward Sango and Kagome, who were in the middle of plotting.  
  
"They've been pretty paranoid lately," he answered gruffly.  
  
Kori just nodded, accepting the answer.  
  
Little did anyone know, all this time, they had been watched.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
AN: Who is it that's watching them? Ten cookies (any kind) to anyone who can guess. Once again, I'm really super sorry about not updating for so long, but when inspiration knocks, you can't close the door in its face or it'll never leave you alone. And by the way, if there are any major mistakes in here, please tell me. As I said before, I typed this up really fast so the thoughts wouldn't leave me.  
  
REVIEWer Responses:  
  
Eddie4: yep, I just watch it for the commercials. ^.^  
  
SilentDark: I'm so sorry it happened again, but at least I didn't forget about you guys! 


	22. The Great Taiyoukai

Chapter 22: The Great Taiyoukai, Sesshoumaru  
  
"Lord Sesshoumaru! Lord Sesshoumaru!" said the croaky voice of the ugly, green toad-thing that traveled with the taiyoukai of the West, Sesshoumaru (who I'm sure needs no introduction). "This lowly, loyal servant has returned from his quest he was sent on by you, oh Great Lord!"  
  
"Jaken," said the smooth voice of the beautifully male Sesshoumaru.  
  
"Yes, oh Great One? This humble, insignificant"  
  
"Shut up."  
  
"Yes, my lord."  
  
The taiyoukai looked down to his servant in disgust. He had never liked Jaken that much, but he was the only one of his servants who was completely loyal to him and didn't just fear him, though he did his fair share of that as well. And unfortunately, other than himself, the toad was the only one that wouldn't ask questions when sent to spy for him since he had responsibilities to take care of, like patrolling and taking care of his lands, not to mention paperwork. All in all, it had become time-consuming of late and as such, he had not had the opportunity to attack his brother, pretending to want his father's other fang. As such, he had opted for having Jaken spy on Inuyasha, the miko, and the rest of the motley crew he had picked up.  
  
Of course, this had upset Rin somewhat, for she was rather fond of...playing...with Jaken. He rather enjoyed seeing the results himself. But at least the toad was out of his way during this time. And he had long ago found an alternative for Rin that she equally enjoyed.  
  
"Now, tell this Sesshoumaru what you have to report." Jaken did so. "Ah, interesting. Very well. I will spare your life." Sesshoumaru then turned in a western direction. The sun was setting. He would have to act fast. With his face turned safely away from his ancient, ugly toad-thing servant, he allowed a glimmer of mischief to appear in his beautiful, golden orbs. "Take care of Rin. If any harm comes to her, it will be on your head."  
  
As soon as those words left his lord's mouth, Jaken's heart stopped and his eyes bulged out even more than usual. His hands went numb and the staff of heads, which rivaled his ugliness. "No, please oh Great Lord Sesshoumaru, this lowly servant has been loyal to you since your birth, why do you punish him so?"  
  
Sesshoumaru turned and allowed an eyebrow to raise, barely a millimeter, but it was enough to scare Jaken half to death. "Are you questioning this Sesshoumaru's judgment, Jaken."  
  
"N-no, my lord. I will take care of the human." He then proceeded to mumble a few choice words about humans under his breath, which Sesshoumaru decided to ignore. For the time being.  
  
But for now, he had better things to do.

* * *

Kurama opened the shoji door that revealed the room shared by the women to check on his miko, Kagome. He thought it was strange that he had fallen for her in such a short time, but didn't bother questioning it for too long. _Kagome_, the Youko in him summed up, _is a very special woman. She is meant for us, and no one else. It was fate. Simple as that._ Kurama couldn't help but agree with his other side.  
  
He had been equally impressed that she had the power to unlock his Youko form, without the former (or maybe still in business) bandit being the one with complete control.  
  
He wished they could have been together at night, but Kagome was still uncomfortable sleeping in trees and it was considered inappropriate for them to sleep together. Kurama sighed again and looked in on the girls, to make sure they were all asleep, and instantly noticed an empty space by the taijiya.  
  
"Where's Kagome?!"  
  
End of Chapter

* * *

AN: First of all, everyone...Please don't hate me for not updating! You see, what happened was, with the last couple months of school, I just kept getting more and more frustrated with everything, and as such I was feeling very frustrated (duh) and melancholy and I was thinking too much (and yes, this is a bad thing because I'm a pessimist and that only got me more depressed). Since I was feeling that way, I knew anything I wrote would be half-hearted and when I looked back on it, I would think "How could I have written this crap?!" And that'd probably be what you all thought, too, so I decided to have you guys wait and not disappoint you all. So I decided on the alternative and just calmed myself down by reading and not writing.  
  
Another thing: Sorry if anything changed, or if I repeated myself or anything along those lines, but I skimmed over each of the chapters really fast so I could get the idea of where I was in the story. I promise the next chapter will be better, or at least a little funnier.  
  
Oh yeah! No one guessed right on who was watching them. It was Jaken (yuck!) Sorry to all those people who thought it was Fluffy-sama.  
  
REVIEWer Responses:  
  
(I hope this is where they left off... .')  
  
SilentDark: Thank you so much for pulling me out of my depression and reminding me that my wonderful reviewers were waiting for me to update! You're so awesome!!!  
  
Cagalli: I just read the summary for your fic, and I think I'm gonna start reading it tonight cuz it sounds good. Thanks for reviewing!  
  
Silverclaws: Thanks for all of the fics you recommended!  
  
ObsidianFox13: Thanks. Yeah, Hojo and Kuwabara are a lot alike, I agree, only Hojo's not ugly.  
  
Nishigirl: I like Miroku as a pervert, too. I'm not done messing with him yet though, soooo...   
  
Lil' Angel: Not to sound rude or anything but...why did you bother reviewing if you don't like the pairing? Also, I'm curious as to whether or not I'm the only one you have reviewed without reading. And one more thing, I hate Yusuke/Kagome pairings. I prefer him with Keiko or Boton(as long as it's not a main pairing). So there! sticks out tongue while standing in front of a flag featuring Kurama (in both forms)  
  
Wow, my AN/responses is almost as long as the chapter. Sorry bout that! Anyways, I'll try to update within the next 1-2 weeks. So..um...yeah...hey, why are you still reading this?! Shouldn't you be REVIEWing?!


	23. Lost and Found

Chapter 23: Lost and Found  
  
Just as Kurama shouted his alarm, Kori sat up from her futon and threw a dagger at the wall yelling, "Stupid birds!" The dagger landed right by marks similar to the one this dagger would certainly create.  
  
At his confused look, Sango calmly answered, "She hates birds."  
  
"Hey, it's not my fault I had a bad experience!" Kori defended herself.  
  
At this point, the entire household was surrounding the door where Kurama stood.  
  
"We heard you say something about miss Kagome missing, that we did."  
  
"What?!" Shippou started crying at the thought of his mother-figure Kagome not being there with him. Kurama picked him up to comfort him.  
  
Kaoru yawned. "Last I saw her, she said she was going to go outside to get some fresh air. She might just be out walking."  
  
"Feh, no," said Inu, "I woulda smelled her. She didn't get outside."  
  
"For once, I agree with the dog. Even with my Jagon, I can't sense her energy anywhere near here."  
  
Shippou began to wail. Kurama finally used the aroma of one of the plant seeds in his hair to put him to sleep. He sighed, trying to keep his inner turmoil from showing.  
  
"If I may offer a suggestion," said everyone's favorite rurouni. All attention was glued on him. "There is a powerful lord near us with whom we have an agreement, that we do. He may be kind enough to offer his assistance. If we begin now, we would be able to get there by midmorning."

* * *

When Kagome awoke, she didn't ever want to wake up. The bed was even more comfortable than the one she had at home, and she was positive that she was still in the feudal era. The sheets were soft and warm, and the pillow felt divine. All of this was almost too good to be true.  
  
She finally did open her weary eyes when she felt a presence close to her, though it didn't feel the least bit malicious.  
  
Imagine her surprise when her eyes met that of a younger girl, who held her head not half a foot away from Kagome's. Kagome jumped back in surprise.  
  
The girl smiled. "Hi pretty lady. Rin thinks you're really pretty. Rin's name is Rin. What's pretty lady's name? Will pretty lady play with me? Lord Sesshoumaru said that Rin could play with pretty lady while he is working."  
  
While the girl-Rin-took a breath, Kagome decided to break the stream of endless questions. "Hello, Rin, my name is Kagome. And yes, I would be happy to play with you."  
  
"Yay! Rin is so happy!"

* * *

When the group (minus Sano, who was being forced to work of some of his gambling debts, and Yahiko, who was visiting his girlfriend. When he was out of earshot, she said he was simply afraid of the lord) finally reached the castle, Inuyasha scrunched up his nose in disgust. "Ugh! This place reeks of Sesshoumaru!"  
  
"That would probably be because this is his castle, that it is."  
  
"What?!"  
  
'I wish Kagome was here to sit him,' thought Shippou. He had refused to be left behind.  
  
"Well, yes," said Kaoru, "He is the taiyoukai we have an agreement with. I'm sure he'll help us. Or at the very least, he won't kill us."  
  
"Feh. Easy for you to say," Inu mumbled. Kori smiled and took his hand in hers. He immediately began to calm down, and a blush was almost visible on his gruff exterior.  
  
Kenshin walked up casually to the door big enough for Sesshoumaru in his inu form and knocked using the giant door knocker. When the doors finally opened, a green toad-thingy appeared.  
  
Of course, he didn't look like his usual self. He was wearing white powder and makeup, and a pink kimono with lace and frills. Someone had found a blonde wig and had secured it to his ugly, wrinkled head. He was also being chased by two people, one who carried his ugly staff bedecked in ribbons and whatnot who was trying to hit him, and the other with bows of all colors.  
  
All the group could do for a moment was stare in shocked silence. Finally, Kurama found his voice. "Kagome?"

* * *

AN: Well, what did you guys think? Not much to say right now...  
  
REVIEWer Responses:  
  
SilentDark: Well, you now have at least one dagger.  
  
Youka, Youko's little vixen: It would be kinda cool to just have a torture series of the anime where we could torture everyone that is hated... . 


	24. Old Aquaintances

Chapter 24: Old Aquaintances

"Kagome?"  
  
Kagome stopped in mid-grab of Jaken, who had tripped and was now at the mercy of Rin. She had obviously not noticed the group before and now that she did, she smiled beautifully toward Kurama and blushed a little. She hadn't had time to "beautify" herself earlier because Rin had wanted to play so much. And she couldn't miss the opportunity to "play" with Jaken while she had the taiyoukai's permission to do so. Getting over her embarrassment, she ran over to Kurama to give him a big hug.  
  
Kurama was just relieved as he looked over her to find that she was uninjured and actually seemed to be rather comfortable where she was. But something was nagging him in the back of his head. This place seemed familiar somehow, but Youko refused to tell him anything.  
  
But his train of thought was soon cut off as Kagome launched herself toward him and Youko did a little victory dance in his head, while in the outside world, Inuyasha brandished his sword, calling out in his usual gruff, blunt manner, "Sesshoumaru, you coward, get your ass out here and face me!"  
  
"Um, I don't think that's a very good idea, that I-"  
  
Unfortunately, Kenshin's reprimand was cut off when Sesshoumaru appeared faster than the speed of light (corny, I know) in front of Inuyasha and punched him, sending him flying through the nearest wall.  
  
'Great, I'm going to have to fix that one too. That hanyou is going to ruin my castle.' He glared at said hanyou, whom even Kori didn't dare trying to help for fear of attracting Sesshoumaru's attention. "Do not curse in front of Rin, Inuyasha," he spat out.  
  
Unfortunately, our little Inu never could be smart about this sort of thing, so he yelled the first thing that came to mind. "Feh! Don't tell me what to do you ba-"But he never got to finish because Sesshoumaru had knocked him unconscious.  
  
Rin looked both ways to make sure it was safe to cross the hall before skipping over to Kenshin. "Mr. Kenshin, where are Ayame and Suzume? Jaken's no fun and Rin is bored!"  
  
"You can come to visit us whenever Lord Sesshoumaru says you may."  
  
Surprised looks were exchanged amongst the shard hunting group. "You mean Sesshoumaru actually lets you take care of Rin?"  
  
"Well, yes, that is our agreement, that it is. We take care of Rin while Lord Sesshoumaru is patrolling his lands and he makes sure that our village isn't decimated by vengeful demons."  
  
"Vengeful demons?" asked Sango.  
  
Kaoru laughed a little nervously. "Well, you see, Kenshin is quite the swordsman when he puts his mind to it."  
  
At this point, Kurama wasn't really listening to the conversation. After all, having the complete attention of a certain not-so-completely-cold- hearted-anymore-but-still-more-than-the-average-taiyoukai on him since Inu was thrown through the wall unnerved him. "Is there something wrong, Lord Sesshoumaru?"  
  
"You have changed greatly since I last saw you...Youko Kurama. I never thought you would be one to take refuge in a weak ningen body."  
  
As he said this, realization turned the light bulb on in Kurama's head. His body shifted and glowed until he finally transformed into the gorgeous silver kitsune fangirls all over the world fawn over. He smirked. "So. We meet again...Fluffy."

* * *

AN: Wow, I'm doing pretty well. Three (?) cliffhangers in a row. I was going to go on, but the only reason I actually wrote this chapter so soon is because there were a couple people who asked questions and I felt like being nice and answering.  
  
REVIEWer Responses:  
  
Digger: How I managed to get the two series to crossover was creative authority over the story. Kenshin was simply the only series other than Inuyasha that is not in modern day that I am comfortable enough to write about and won't make the characters completely stray from their given personalities. For example, you wouldn't want me to turn something like Gundam characters into a feudal setting, would ya? The other thing is, I'm trying to keep OC down to a minimum. Besides, the three girls (Rin, Ayame, and Suzume) are around the same age, so I thought they would make good playmates. If this all annoys you still, don't worry, they won't be here for much longer. And if anything I just said sounded kind of mean, I didn't mean it to be because I'm glad that was the only complaint you had. Love and Peace!  
  
SilentDark: I don't know if you get the dagger after you throw it. It's just gonna be for every reader to decide for his or herself. And no, it doesn't bother me that you're gonna try to IM me. I'm so honored that someone likes my fic enough to want to get to know me better – sheds tears of happiness - I'm not sure if I put up on my profile or somewhere else that I changed it though. Well, I'll go ahead and put my AIM name up into my profile after I post this. Love and Peace!  
  
Sango132004: I think I might have him in control if I can fit it in. I have a good idea but I'm not sure where to put it. And now the characters that actually matter have seen his Youko form. Thanks for reviewing! 


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